The OTHER Generation X: Tragedy
by invincible13matt
Summary: One year later, the fiends return, stronger than ever. Are Drake and his friends strong enough to defeat them again? Second story in a trilogy. If you read and enjoy, please review.
1. Chapter 1

Yu-Gi-Oh! GX

The Other Generation X:

Tragedy

Chapter 1- Year Two

_One year ago…_

_"Here it is." Matt said. "The Vault of Souls." He was pointing at an ancient looking door that seemed to be carved out of stone. There was a keyhole in the center. "Go ahead, Drake." Drake nodded, walked forward, inserted the key, and turned. The door instantly sprang open and a tide of souls broke out. There was a flood of noise as the souls whipped past, but seconds later it was gone…_

"Drake Stizen! Stop studying the backs of your eyelids and pay attention!"

Drake felt something hit him in the head and he sat bolt upright. He was sitting in Professor Helen's deck construction class, and he had fallen asleep again. He mumbled some apology. Prof. Helen sighed.

"Well, if you'll just toss me back the dry erase marker." She said. Drake picked it up off his desk and lobbed it back down to her. She returned to her lecture, something about synergy and utility or something like that. Drake only heard half of it.

He was beginning to think that the bell would never ring when it finally did. He got up and began to shuffle out of the class when Prof. Helen called him back. Drake groaned and turned around. It looked like he would be spending some more time in detention. Prof. Helen was waiting at the bottom of the stairs, her hands on her hips and a slightly concerned look on her face.

"Drake, what am I to do with you?" she asked. "This is the third time this week you've fallen asleep in my class. Are you getting enough sleep at night?"

"Yes." Drake said. He was determined to not let anyone know that he actually couldn't sleep a wink at night. "I get enough sleep."

"It seems not. Maybe we should monitor you as you sleep. If you keep falling asleep we may have to kick you out of the school. We cannot teach you if you are asleep, you know."

"Yes, I know."

"I'm going to let you off easy this time. Don't let it happen again."

Drake nodded, stood up, and ran out of the classroom. Prof. Helen was nice, she knew what he had been through. Somehow, last year, when all the fiends had attacked, she had been possessed, but still had partial occupation of her body. She watched every bit of the proceedings. Drake turned a corner and nearly ran into Prof- sorry, _Chancellor_ Bentz. As Matt had guessed, Bentz had been elected the new chancellor of the school.

_Ah, Matt. Where has he been this last year?_ Drake wondered. _Last year he said that the Egyptian government wanted his head… have they found him yet? I haven't seen much of the news… nah, he's probably fine somewhere._ Drake hurdled over a short wall and joined his friends at lunch.

"You have a nice nap?" Flynn "Sarge" Tager said. "What did you get from Helen?"

"Nothing, thank God." Drake said, and took the burger that Keith passed him.

"You do seem to be falling asleep in class a lot lately." Julie said, tugging at the collar of her red jacket. With all the experience she had gained dueling last year she had managed to get boosted out of her former lodgings to join Drake in the red dorm. The unsightly purple spots that had been on her arms and legs as a result of a horrific Shadow Game from last year had all vanished. She had, incredibly, avoided any and all injury since the foray into the Shadow Realm apart from a little nick on her wrist that she had received the day after they had come out of the Realm.

"Lucky dog." Keith said. He had stayed in the black dorm, maintaining his already high test score and bumping up his low duel score.

"I guess so." Drake said. He took a sip of his pop, leaned back against the wall, and thought a little. He really hadn't been sleeping well lately. Whenever he fell asleep now, he was haunted by the images of the Shadow Realm. It took less than five minutes and he was awake again, usually sweating and breathing hard. He would try again, fall asleep, and the nightmares would come again. Then he would wake up again. The process continued until it was morning, and Drake felt like he had gotten no sleep at all. He would then go to class, fall asleep there, and have the same nightmares. Then the teacher would wake him up. And it was getting worse.

"Drake, what's up with you, anyway? Have you gotten any sleep since we left the Shadow Realm?" Julie asked.

"What? Uh, yeah…"

"Drake, stop lying." Flynn said.

"We know something is wrong." Keith said. "You have these massive purple bags under your eyes."

"It's nothing…" Drake said, yawning. "Everything's fine."

"Drake, you're not leaving here until we know what's wrong." Julie said.

"There isn't another class until tomorrow." Flynn said. "We have all day."

"Oh, great…" Drake muttered. "Nothing's wrong…"

"Drake, it has to come out eventually." Keith said. "Just get it out."

Drake sighed. They were right, he had to tell them. There was no point in resisting any longer. "Okay, fine. I'll tell you. I haven't gotten more than five consecutive minutes of sleep since we got back from the Shadow Realm, apart from the night of it."

"Tell us something we don't know." Flynn said. "We already know that."

"Okay, then why ask?"

"Because we want to know _why._" Keith said.

"Oh."

"So, why haven't you been able to sleep?" Julie asked.

"Well, I've had these lousy nightmares… not really nightmares, because aren't those not real?"

"Yeah, in general." Flynn said.

"Alright, not really nightmares, more like… revisiting the past… namely, the events of the Shadow Realm. It started about five months ago, but then it wasn't that bad. Now, over the past month, it's gotten steadily worse. Now the reality of the events starts to warp. For instance, when I revisit some of the duels, instead of winning, we lose. Then these horrible things start happening… and I wake up."

"That's all?" Julie asked.

"Yeah, that's it, I swear."

"Odd…" Keith said.

"You're not the only one with problems." Flynn said.

"Huh?" Drake said.

"I've been having similar problems. Only thing is, once I get to sleep, I can never wake up until I've slept for at least five hours, or if I need to get up. Don't ask why, that's always the way it's been with me."

"Interesting."

"How are you going to deal with these nightmares, then? You can't keep falling asleep in class." Julie asked Drake. "Obviously Flynn is okay (as always), but you need to do something."

"I know… but I can't think of anything. Maybe some kind of sleep therapy."

"Where are we going to get that kind of stuff on this island?" Keith said.

"Well, the easy answer is to contact Matt." Drake said. "I bet you he would know some kind of cure, and that he wouldn't mind sneaking it onto this island, but I don't think this is as important as it needs to be to warrant contacting him."

"Matt is always the easy answer." Flynn muttered.

"I have some aromatic candles that might help." Julie suggested. "Actually, I've had the same problem. I had these, and I gave it a go, and it did at least a little."

"Yeah, that might do it." Drake said.

"HEY, YOU! DRAKE STIZEN!" came a voice from behind them all.

"William Maquine, right?" Drake said to Flynn without looking toward the source of the voice. Flynn nodded. Drake sighed. "Time for another beat down."

"Careful, Drake." Keith said. "It's been several months since you've dueled him. He probably has some new tactics and cards."

Drake stood up and looked at the burly William. "Somehow I doubt that he uses any kind of tactics at all."

"I WON'T WAIT ALL DAY!!!" William shouted.

"Yeah, yeah, don't get your pants in a knot." Drake mumbled. He really wasn't in the mood for this.

"I DON'T CARE! GET YOUR LAZY ASS OUT HERE SO I CAN KICK IT!"

"Yeah, fine." Drake activated his duel disk.

"Let's duel!"


	2. First Duel of the New Year

Chapter 2- First Duel of the New Year

Drake: 4000 

**William: 4000**

"Do you think Drake will be fine?" Julie asked. "He's still pretty tired…"

"Ah, this 'master of machines' is hardly in Drake's league anymore. Remember, Drake scored only the second 100 on the dueling practical exam. And since the only other who scored the 100 was Matt, we can see who his skills are comparable to." Flynn said.

"Yeah. This shouldn't take long." Keith said.

"I'll go first!" said William. "I set a card facedown, then set a monster in defense mode to end my turn!"

Drake yawned. "Okay, here we go." Drake drew a new card and yawned again. "Hm… let's see… that card is Battle Footballer… so… I need a little nasty. I set a monster and set two cards. That's all."

"Ha! Right into my trap! Acid Trap Hole!"

"Oh, too bad. Since you don't negate the flip of my monster, I can use its effect. Even though he's destroyed, my White Ninja frags your facedown monster."

"Grr… it doesn't matter! It's my turn!" William drew a card. "I summon my Mechanicalchaser (Dark/Machine, 1850/800) in attack mode, and attack you directly!"

"Sakuretsu Armor. He's destroyed." Drake yawned. "Too easy."

"SHUT UP! I'll beat you somehow… I end my turn!"

"Fine, then." Drake drew a card. "I summon Queen's Knight (Light/Warrior, 1500/1600) in attack mode. Attack him directly.

Drake: 4000 

**William: 2500**

"Now I'll kill you!" William said.

"Probably not. I end my turn."

"My turn, then!" William drew his card. "I summon Machine King Prototype (Earth/Machine/Effect, 1500/1600) in attack mode! Since he gains 100 attack points for every machine-type monster on the field, that puts him over your woman (1600). Now, Machine King Prototype, destroy the Queen's Knight!"

"Negate Attack. You're done." Drake said. He yawned again. "This is getting boring."

"I'm not done yet! I set a card and end my turn."

"Why does it seem that William is getting so much worse?" Julie asked. "Drake barely beat him the first time they met, I was watching, and in the tag duel, he gave us quite a run for our money. Now, Drake is walking all over him without batting an eye."

"Two reasons." Flynn said. "One, Drake has gotten a lot better since last year."

"And two, William got worse." Keith said. "I saw all the scores. William's dropped by 10 percentage points. And his wasn't exactly soaring to begin with."

"Oh."

"My turn." Drake said, and drew a card. "I summon King's Knight (Light/Warrior/Effect, 1600/1400) in attack mode."

"So? You have to destroy him to get past the MK proto."

"Really? I was under the impression that the Jack's Knight (Light/Warrior, 1900/1600) he summons was enough to destroy the MK proto."

"Oh, crap!"

"Go, Jack's Knight, attack and destroy the MK Prototype!"

"I activate my own Negate Attack!"

"Very well, I'll just set a card and end my turn."

"My turn!" William drew a card. "Ha! Take this! I sacrifice the Prototype for Cyber-tech Alligator (Wind/Machine, 2500/1400) in attack mode! Rip apart that Queen's Knight!"

Drake: 3000 

**William: 2500**

"Hm." Drake said.

"Ha! Get out of this one! I end my turn!"

"Well, you just put yourself exactly where I want you."

"How is that?"

"Just watch." Drake drew a card. "Hey… what the heck…? He did it again…"

"What was that?"

"Oh, nothing. I summon the Mpirian Knight (Light/Warrior, 1900/1400) in attack mode! I wasn't planning on using him, but he's better than the other one."

"Wait… Drake only had Mpirian Warrior last night." Flynn said. "He asked my opinion of his deck. He changed it a little. But there was no Knights in that deck but the card knights, and I looked through every extra card he had."

"Then how did it get in there?" Keith asked.

"Maybe Matt came back here last night and put it in his deck." Julie suggested. "Though I don't know why he always gives the cards to Drake."

"Who knows. Maybe we should ask him next time we get a chance." Flynn said.

"Allow me to continue." Drake said. "I activate Mpirian Soul Empower! This allows me to choose one Mpire Monster on my side of the field, then remove all the monsters in my graveyard in order to increase its attack points by the sum of theirs. So, I remove the White Ninja and the Queen's Knight to increase his attack points by 3000 (4900)."

"Holy crap! That's a lot of attack points!"

"Yeah, it sort of is. Now, Mpirian Knight, destroy his Alligator!"

Drake: 3000 

**William: 100**

"And now, Jack's Knight, finish him!"

Drake: 3000 

**William: 0**

"That's all." Drake sat back down with his friends.

"Hey, I'm not done with you! I challenge you again!" William said.

"Persistent little bug aren't you?" Drake said, and stood up again. "Fine then, I never get tired of outdueling you." He began to shuffle his deck. William pulled out his deck and began to shuffle it as well.

"Come here so I can cut it." He said. Drake walked over to him, his deck held out in front of it. William held out his deck, then pulled it back and punched Drake in the jaw.

_"Drake!"_ Julie screamed. Drake, dazed, tried to mount some kind of defense. William continued to hit him in the face, time and time again. Then he connected hard with Drake's temple, and Drake fell to the ground, unconscious.


	3. The Second Wave

Chapter 3- The Second Wave

Drake woke up. Everything around him was white, a blinding white, and very blurry. Someone came in. Still nothing was in focus. He looked blearily around. He was connected to some machine and he felt like absolute crap. He was sore all over, especially his head. The person sat down next to him, draped a wet rag over his forehead, and gently pressed it to his skin. He felt weary and fell asleep again.

---------------------------

Drake woke again, still in the white room. He couldn't remember anything. Someone was sitting on a chair next to the bed he was on. There was a rhythmic beeping sound coming from somewhere. Drake blinked and Julie's concerned face came into view.

"What… what happened?" he asked. He noticed that Julie's face was streaked with tears. "Where am I? My head hurts…"

"Well, when you walked over to 'cut the decks,' William just hauled off and punched you in the head. We were all stunned, we know he didn't like you, but we didn't expect that. So, naturally, we had no clue what to do. He kept hitting you and you eventually went down on the ground. I think you were unconscious, but he didn't seem to care. He got down over you and kept punching you. Flynn reacted first.

"What did he do?"

"Well, he jumped up, ran over, pulled William off of you, and gave him a good one across the jaw. It must have really hurt, because it got the same reaction out of William that about ten of William's punches got out of you. He came after Flynn, who just absolutely destroyed him, despite the fact that William's so much bigger than Flynn. Chancellor Bentz and two other teachers pulled them off each other- well, more like pulled Flynn off of William; William wasn't doing much. They rushed you up here, the school hospital. I don't know what happened to Flynn and William. Keith and I had no clue what to do, so I came up here and came in as soon as they let me. Keith was here with me for a while. He went to find out what happened to Flynn a few minutes ago."

"Wow… and ow…"

"Yeah, the doctor are trying to figure out exactly how bad it is, but they say that you're incredibly tough. He said that you should probably be dead, William must have hit you at least fifteen times in the head."

"And believe me, I'm feeling all fifteen right now."

"At least you're not dead… I was worried that you were." The door opened and Julie turned to see who it was. "Oh, it's Nurse Jen."

"I'm sorry, Julie, but you need to leave. Drake needs rest, he's already short on sleep, and he has some fractures in his skull."

"Oh, okay." Julie stood up. "Sorry I have to go."

"Don't worry. I'll be fine." Drake said. Julie walked out of the room. Nurse Jen walked to Drake's bedside.

"I have to give you one of these. It's just a sleep aid, but a very strong one." She was holding a needle. She picked up Drake's limp arm and stuck the needle in. Drake felt very tired almost instantly. He was asleep in less than ten seconds.

--------------------------------

Drake spent the next four days in the hospital. He would be there for two weeks, and he was already sick of feeling so weak and useless. Julie hadn't come back to visit yet, nor had Keith or Flynn. He wondered what had happened to them all. The doctor had told him that he had multiple small cracks in his skull that would heal with time, and that he had a few small chips in both of his arms. Nothing incredibly threatening, but it would take time. Drake was already sick of it.

Nurse Jen came in twice a day, at 10 to inject him with some vitamins, and at seven to inject the sleep aid. Other than that he had no company. They hadn't even bothered to give him his cards to look at.

The door opened and Chancellor Bentz walked in. _Finally,_ Drake thought. _Someone besides that Nurse._ Nurse Jen was nice, but having only her for company 24 hours a day was boring. The Chancellor sat down next to Drake.

"How are you feeling, Drake?" he asked.

"Like I got hit by a car." Drake said. Despite his first impressions about the Chancellor, Drake actually had come to like the man. He was probably the only person besides Professor Helen that believed the whole story.

"Too bad. I need to talk to you about what you want to do about your schoolwork. As you probably could have guessed, just because you went absent doesn't mean that the school stops running."

"I would have guessed that."

"I can give you two options for this: one, I can have someone deliver all of your work to you in this hospital, and then it will be due two days after you get back. Two, you can get it all when you get back, and then you will be given a number of days equal to the days of your absence to complete it all."

"Give it to me now." Apart from being the obviously better choice, there was the prospect of company.

"I thought you would say that." Bentz pulled out a small stack of papers. "This is the work you've been assigned in the past four days. You'll get each day's work at about twelve each day. Goodbye." Bentz stood up to leave.

"Wait a second!" Drake said, and tried to sit up. The pain stopped him. Bentz stopped and turned.

"Yes?"

"What happened to Flynn?"

Bentz smiled sadly. "Unfortunately for him, William Maquine's parents are rich and well-known. They are suing for his expulsion and payment for the harm he inflicted to their son."

"Shit…"

"Yes, that would be an accurate assessment of the situation. It would seem that not only will Mr. Tager be sued and likely expelled from this school, but he will probably be tried for assault in a court of law."

"No way! But William did even worse, what's happening with him?"

Bentz gave him that sad smile again. "Nothing. His parents have covered it all up, paid off all the right people so that their son doesn't get into any trouble. Of course, they cannot pay me off. He will, at least, be given a month's worth of detentions. But the trouble that Mr. Tager will get into will be far greater. We are looking at prison time."

"That's not far!"

"I know, but I cannot do anything about it. There were several witnesses to Flynn beating up William, but none of them saw him beat you up. Too bad, that might be useful in court."

"You can't… huh… okay, thanks Chancellor. That's all I wanted to know. Oh, yeah, could I get something to do in here? Maybe my laptop and my cards?"

"I will have someone deliver them to you. But right now, I've got to get to work. Administrative things, you know. Farewell." Bentz walked out the door, and Drake was left to contemplate Flynn's fate.

------------------------------

Julie brought in Drake's work the next day, along with his cards and laptop. She looked incredibly sad.

"Have you heard what's going to happen to Flynn yet?" She asked, and sniffed.

"Yeah. I asked Bentz about it… has any of it taken place yet?" Drake asked.

"No… it's scheduled for two days from now." She said. "I don't know what to do… it looks like Flynn's got to go… bye Drake…" She turned and walked out, still sniffling. Drake stared at her retreating back for a while, then thought.

_What can we do to help Flynn?_ Drake thought. _Hmm…I need answers…_ Suddenly, in that moment, the answer came in something Flynn himself had said. _"Matt is always the easy answer." _He had said. _But is this worth contacting Matt for?_ Drake thought. _Hmm… difficult… but, it's our only chance. I have to. But not yet. I'll wait until tonight… that sleep aid gets less effective with each passing night._

------------------------------

That night, almost in the middle of the night, Drake woke up. One of his nightmares had woken him up, but that didn't matter. He flipped open the laptop and started it up. He checked to make sure no one was up outside his door, then opened up his wireless connections. The school had to have a wireless network somewhere, he knew that the teacher's computers didn't have internet cables plugged in. Sure enough, there was a strong signal from a network called "Duel Academy Wireless Network." There was a weaker signal from a network called "HB Network." Drake connected to the Duel Academy Network and signed into the internet.

He had nearly forgotten the method to contact Matt, but he remembered the website. He accessed and went to the log in space. Drake scratched his head. _What was that password again?_ Something fell outside his room, and there was a light in the room outside of Drake's. He closed the laptop, slid it under the covers of his bed, and pretended to sleep. The light passed through the glass doors of his room, then went away. _Crud, I forget that this academy has armed guards!_ He sat back up, pulled out his laptop again, and stared at the screen. _Enter something in the password box… what was it? Phalanx? No, something like that though… oh yeah, Phoenix! _Drake clicked on the password box and entered, "Phoenix." He clicked okay.

The screen went blank. Drake scratched his head. _Why would Matt give us something that doesn't work?_ Then color came back to the screen. Three links appeared, "Email", "IM", and "Video." Drake doubted that he would be able to contact Matt instantly, so he clicked email. He was about to start typing when a small white box appeared.

"Stop. Don't bother. I'm right here, what is it?" It said.

Drake hammered away at the keys. "I need to ask a favor of you. Something's happened."

"Hang on." There was a long pause. "I can't talk here. Sign off that network and use the other one."

_How does he know that there's another network?_ Drake thought. He signed out of the internet, disconnected from the Duel Academy's network, and connected to the network labeled "HB Network." He returned to Laazy and contacted Matt again. "What was that all about?"

"That link is heavily guarded. Lots of potential to be detected. There's nothing on this one though. Trust me, I set it up and there's no way that they can change it. My buddy rigged it so that no one except that you, Flynn, Keith, and Julie can 'see' it. Okay, so what did you want?"

"It's kinda hard to explain here…"

"Hard in text, you mean?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Do you have a video link?"

"Yeah, of course. Who doesn't? After Matt Jurik made it so cheap to get one, everyone who had a computer got one."

"Good. Hang on a minute." Drake's computer went black again. Ten seconds later Matt appeared on it. He was sitting in either a very dark room or a room with all black walls, Drake couldn't tell which. He was wearing the same clothes Drake had seen him in when he had left- a black, hooded cloak, black long sleeve shirt, and the headband, still pulled down over his left eye. The only difference was his left arm. The sleeve had been cut short and it was wrapped in white bandages. "Hello, Drake. You look a little worse for the wear."

"I could say the same about you." Drake whispered. "Try and keep it down."

"I know. Now, what's the problem?"

Drake explained the situation. A troubled look never left Matt's face. "So, Flynn is facing assault charges and possible jail time, as well as expulsion from Duel Academy and heavy fines." Drake concluded.

"This is complicated. What do you want me to do about it?" Matt said. "Do you want me to get the charges dropped, the trial rigged, or get Flynn out of there before he gets put on trial?"

Drake considered the options. "I'm not sure. Which is easiest?"

"I can get any of them done." Matt said. "Each presents a different challenge. Let's see… I think I could probably convince a friend of mine to bribe the jury, but you would have to be there to testify against William. That makes it a case of self-defense, which no reasonable person would go against. Of course, the bribe is just insurance, if you testify, you improve Flynn's chances incredibly."

"Good. Who is this friend of yours, anyway?" Drake checked his door. No one was outside it.

"You're going to laugh, but it's actually Matt Jurik. I've been his friend since middle school, and when he went big, we stayed in touch. He helps me out here and there, and I do the same for him. This is his website we're using, actually."

"Okay, so that's done."

"Is there anything else you'd like to know?"

"Not really… hang on, someone's coming! Gotta go!" Drake quickly shut everything down and stored the laptop again. A massive, hulking form smashed through the door and walked inside. Drake's eyes grew wide as the beast came toward him. It raised an arm that ended in razor sharp claws to slash him, then fell dead on the ground. Julie and Keith were standing in the doorway. Keith's RPK SAW, the one he had picked up in the Shadow Realm last year, was smoking. Julie was bleeding from a gash on her arm.

"Drake, we have to get out of here." Keith said. "The fiends have come back with a vengeance."

"But they won't do anything without a leader!" Drake said.

"I know, Julie told me. That's what makes this so troubling." Keith tossed a rifle to Drake. "There's your gun. We need to go."

"Hang on, let me contact Matt. I was just talking to him, trying to figure out how to help Flynn." Drake said, and rebooted his computer. Julie and Keith moved into the little room. Drake pulled up Laazy again and contacted Matt.

"What is it?" He said. "And by the way, hi, Keith and Julie."

"The fiends are back." Keith said. "They just attacked the academy again, and I think I saw some going toward the old hidden base. Should that make me feel bad, or am I being paranoid?"

Matt frowned. "I need to get over there as fast as possible. And that is bad, that's where the key is. They probably want to dig it up and open the gate."

"That's not good." Julie said. "But shouldn't this be just the same as last time? Apart from the fact that they have a new leader."

"And that's what makes it so different." Matt said. "I'll see you soon. We can discuss this more later." He stood up and the video link closed. Drake climbed out of bed.

"Ow… okay, let's go." He said.

"Are you sure that you're well enough?" Julie asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. The important thing is to get out of here and find Matt."

"That's going to be hard." Keith said. "There were a bunch of fiends following us when we got here, I don't think that they've gone away yet." There was a loud banging on the door. The door splintered and fell down.


	4. A New Breed

Chapter 4- A New Breed

Multiple fiends carrying AK-47s poured through the destroyed door. Drake leveled his AK-74su on the nearest one and opened fire. The kick of the machine caused him enough pain to make him drop the gun.

"Damn it…" He hissed. "I can't shoot them! It hurts too much."

"Don't worry!" Keith said, hammering away from behind his RPK. "There's not the many of them!"

"But they sure are hard to kill!" Julie said, picking away at them with bursts from her own AK-47. "It's taking nearly twice as long to kill them as last time!"

"I realize that! Just keep firing!" Keith pulled the drum out of his RPK and locked in another one. "We have to hold out until Matt gets here!"

Drake picked up his gun again and set it to single shot. Firing it on full auto was too hard. Drake leveled the rifle on the nearest fiend and pulled the trigger. He was lucky. The fiend's head exploded with a single shot, showering everyone in blood.

"Nice shot!" Julie said.

"Just keep firing!" Keith said. Five minutes later the hospital was littered with the bodies of the deceased fiends. Keith stood up. "Grab some ammo and let's get the hell out of here." Keith walked out of the little room and started checking the discarded RPK drums. Drake and Julie looked for some extra clips. "Ready?" Drake and Julie nodded. "Right then, this way." Keith pushed open the hospital's swinging doors. There was no one behind the doors.

"Good, no more fiends." Drake said.

"Shh! Someone's coming down the hallway." Julie said. They all leveled their guns on the end of the hallway. Chancellor Bentz ran around the corner.

"Oh, thank god, you three are okay." He said. "There's about four of those things following me."

"Okay, just get down behind us." Drake said. Four of the fiends came around the corner. Bentz hit the ground as Keith, Drake and Julie opened fire on the beasts. They never stood a chance. "How'd you get out?"

"Well, I had auto-defense turrets installed in my office over the summer, just in case. They cut down the invaders, but they don't have much ammo, so I came out here to see if I could find you. And thank god I did. Are you sure you'll be okay, Drake? You look rather pale."

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Right now, what we need to do is find Matt."

"You called him in? You do know that he's a convicted criminal, right?"

"Yeah, we do. He explained all that last year." Keith said. "He said he would get here as soon as possible."

"Do you think he'll bring Brooklyn along with him?" Julie asked. "That might make up for not having Flynn with us…"

"And that's the secondary objective." Drake said. "Spring Flynn from wherever he is."

"He's being held on a ship at the docks." Bentz said. "They plan to leave for the mainland in a day. But they won't be, not after this."

"Okay, good. We have plenty of time so long as the fiends don't go after the ship." Drake said. "But, uh, how do we get there?"

"We can use the teacher's elevator." Bentz said. He stopped in front of an apparently blank stretch of wall, pulled out a keycard, and inserted it into a nearly invisible slot in the wall. The wall slid apart to reveal an elevator. "Everyone in." They all stepped into the elevator and the doors closed. Bentz inserted his keycard into another slot and pressed a button marked "G." There was a soft whirring as the elevator began its descent.

"The hospital's on the top floor of the academy." Keith told Drake. "They wanted the use of the Academy's skylights. Claimed it would help the patients."

"I see." Drake said. "How long is this going to take, then?"

"Not long. The Academy's only five stories tall." A bell sounded and the doors opened. They were now in the entrance hall. The only problem was that it was crowded with fiends. Drake crouched down and started firing into the crowd. Keith crouched next to him and unloaded an entire drum into the crowd.

"There's too many!" Keith said. "Someone shut the doors!" Bentz pressed another button and the doors closed. Keith reloaded his SAW and stood up. "Okay, there's a lot of fiends out there."

"No kidding!" Julie said. "What was your first clue?!?"

Something hit the elevator door. "We need to do something about these fiends." Drake said. "Before they tear the door off its hinges."

"Or just hit the door in and crush us with it." Keith said. There was another bang on the door and it bent in a little.

"So, what are we going to do now?" Drake asked. "Try and fight out or go back up?"

"It doesn't matter." Keith said. "In any and all cases, we have to beat these guys down. And I don't think we have the firepower." The door was hit again and it buckled in a little more. Keith shrugged. "Guess we gotta fight like heroes and try to get out of here."

"We can't go back up." Bentz said. "The elevator has stalled."

"Great." Drake locked a new clip in and flipped his 74 back into auto. "Just peachy. Time to tear these things apart." The door was ripped out. Drake unloaded onto the fiends, all pain in his arms forgotten. He cut down three in a quick burst of about ten shots. More came in. Keith was prone on the ground, his RPK supported on a bipod, his gun blazing. Julie was standing in front of Bentz, hammering away on her 47. No matter how many fiends they killed more came. _At least they don't have guns._ Drake thought. Suddenly the normal fiends stopped coming. That's not to say that the attack stopped.

A new kind of beast was now in front of them. It was the same night black color of the other fiends, but it walked on all fours. It looked kind of like a massive dog of some breed yet undiscovered. Its rear legs were much longer than its front ones. Its tail ended in a point, like a devil's. Its jaw was as wide as its body, and filled with teeth as long as Drake's forearm. Muscles rippled under its skin.

Drake's eyes widened. _When did they get pets?_ He thought. Then he stopped thinking and unloaded on the beast. It roared and began to advance on the elevator. Everyone was shooting it now, unloading entire clips into it, but it seemed relatively unfazed. It stuck its head into the elevator, its beady eyes searching for something. It eyes focused on Julie. Drake groaned.

_Just like old times, _He thought. _Everyone on Julie!_ Drake swung the butt of his rifle and hit the monster in the head. It ignored it. It snapped at Julie but couldn't get in far enough to get her. _Good,_ Drake thought,_ she's in far enough that it can't get her. _Then something strange happened. The monster's neck began to stretch. Drake shot it again and again, so did Keith and Julie, but nothing happened. The bullets just bounced off harmlessly. Drake looked up at Keith.

"This isn't good." Keith said.

"No kidding." Drake said. He shot it in the neck. The monster grunted and its neck retracted. Then its eyes came to rest on Drake. "Oh, crap." The dog-thing snapped at Drake. Drake ran back toward Julie. "This is lousy."

"Yeah, and there's about four more of these things out in the hall." Julie said. "My gun jammed. I can't fix it."

"Great. We were already short one, now we're short two."

Keith walked back toward them. "We're screwed. We can't kill these things."

"Try shooting it in the neck." Drake suggested. The dog-thing stuck its head into the elevator again. Its neck began to extend again. This time, though, they couldn't see its neck, on account of the frill around the monster's head. "Well, it was nice knowing you guys."

"Yeah." Julie said. "Look's like it's over."

"Hm… yeah. See you guys somewhere else." Keith said. The dog-thing's head was getting closer. It was within three inches of Drake's face when the neck snapped back and the dog-thing roared. It pulled its head out of the elevator and began to roll around on the ground, trying to scratch its neck. Drake was confused. So were the other four dogs outside the elevator. One by one, in rapid succession, the dog's eyes widened and they began to imitate their friend on the ground. A few minutes later they were all still.

"What was that all about?" Bentz asked. "What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything…" Drake said.

"Neither did I." Julie said.

"Nor did I." Keith said.

"Only one explanation…" Julie said.

"Matt?" Drake said.

"Matt." Julie said. A black shadow dropped down in front of the elevator. It pulled of its hood.

"Hello, lady and gents." Matt said. "Sorry I got here so late."


	5. First Time

Chapter 5- First Time

"Matt!" Julie said.

"Of course." Matt said. "Did you think I would sit back and wait until he was only an inch away from Drake?"

"Well, you got pretty damn close." Drake said.

"Detail, details." Matt kicked the dog-thing on the ground. "I've never even seen this thing before. And that can't be good."

"Wow, finally something Matt _doesn't _know!" Keith said.

"It does seem rather vulnerable at the neck." Bentz said.

"You made it out, too, Chancellor?" Matt said.

"Yes, this time I did."

"Good. We need another duelist, regardless of their experience at a Shadow Game."

"Shadow Game?"

"Yes. That's why we were all so beat-up looking when we got out of the Shadow Realm." Drake said. "They were a real pain. Still are, probably."

"Okay, enough idle chitchat. What are we going to do?" Julie said.

"We need to break Flynn out first." Keith said. "More firepower, you know."

"Yes, that makes sense." Bentz said.

"My gun jammed." Julie said.

"Is that why you weren't firing?" Keith asked.

"Yes."

"Let me see it." Matt said. He took the rifle, gave it a good whack, pointed at the ceiling, and pulled the trigger. The gun fired. "Here, all unjammed." Julie took her rifle. "Now, let's go. I noticed that there was a ship at the docks. Is that where he is?"

"Yeah." Drake said. "We need to get his rifle."

Matt ran out the door. Very, very quickly. So quickly in fact, that all that could be seen of him was a black streak. He returned in less than twenty seconds with Flynn's rifle. "Here it is."

"God, when did you learn to run that fast?" Keith said.

"I'm a freakin' ninja! I could always run that fast."

"Then why haven't you before?"

"Don't ask." Matt slipped the rifle into his cloak. "Let's roll."

"Not yet you don't!" said a fiend behind them.

"Oh, great. An intelligent fiend." Drake said. "Just what we needed."

"Shut up!" said the fiend. "Shut up so I can pick one of you out! I choose… the old guy!"

"Who?" Drake said. As far as he knew, there were no truly old people amongst them.

"That guy!" the fiend responded, and pointed at Chancellor Bentz.

"Fine! I'll duel you." Said Bentz.

"Oh, this is no normal duel." The fiend smiled evilly. "It'll be a Shadow Game!"

Matt sighed. "Figures."

"Doesn't matter. I can take him." Bentz said.

"Oh, I'm sure you can take _him_. It's the Shadow Game that I'm worried you can't take."

"Enough! Get ready!" said the fiend.

"Let's duel!"

Bentz: 4000 

**Fiend: 4000**

"I'll go first!" Bentz said. "I summon Bazoo the Soul Eater (Earth/Beast/Effect, 1600/900) in attack mode!" Bentz groaned, and slowly moved his hand to his heart. "What is this?"

"Ha! You're a complete fool. I knew you wouldn't be able to handle the Shadow Game!"

"So… this is it?"

"Yes! What did you think it was?"

"Nothing. I'll set a card facedown and end my turn."

"Fine then!" The fiend drew a card.

"Do you think Bentz will be fine?" Julie asked.

"Certainly." Matt said. "He should be fine, if he can blow off the first taste that well."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely."

"Shut up back there!" said the fiend. "I'm about to pawn this guy. I activate the spell card Fissure! This will destroy your Bug! Then I summon Don Zaloog (Dark/Warrior/Effect, 1400/1500) in attack mode, and attack directly!"

Bentz: 2500 

**Fiend: 4000**

"And now, I can activate his special ability! When he does damage, I can discard a card from your hand! So, I'll get rid of that one!"

"Curses… Goblin Elite."

"Good! I set one card facedown and then activate Delinquent Duo! By paying 1000 life points…"

Bentz: 2500 

**Fiend: 3000**

"I can discard one card from your hand, and then force you to discard a card! So, Say goodbye to that card!"

"Hmm… King Tiger Wanghu."

"Now you discard a card! Not that you have much of a choice!"

"I'll discard my Sabersaurus. Are you done?"

"Yes, I am."

"Wow, this just sucks." Keith said. "The fiend just pulled a huge card advantage trick on Bentz."

"Yeah, but don't worry. He can get out of it." Drake said.

"My turn!" Bentz said. "I activate Pot of Greed, to draw two more cards!"

"See? Not a problem." Drake said.

"He's still down."

"I summon my Gemini Elf (Earth/Spellcaster, 1900/900) in attack mode! Now, I activate my Field Spell Card, Gaia Power! This increases the attack points of all Earth-Attribute monsters by 500 points, and decreases their defense by 400 points! So that gives my Elves 2400 attack points… so! Let's use them. Gemini Elf, attack and destroy his Zaloog!"

Bentz: 2500 

**Fiend: 2000**

"Grr… you'll pay."

"Maybe, maybe not. I set my last card and end my turn."

"Fine then!" The fiend drew a card. "I special summon Cyber Dragon in attack mode!"

"So? He's not strong enough."

"He doesn't need to be! I sacrifice him for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch (Light/Thunder/Effect, 2400/1000) in attack mode! And when he's summoned, I'm allowed to destroy any monster on the field! And you know what that means!"

"Oh no!"

"That's right! Now your Gemini Elf is gone! And since they are gone, I can now attack you directly! Go, Zaborg, attack directly!"

Bentz: 100 

**Fiend: 2000**

Bentz groaned and fell to his knees as the attack hit him.

"So, you can't take it!"

"This is bad!" Julie said.

"No kidding! With just 100 life points left, it's got to hurt a lot to be in Bentz's position." Drake said.

"Don't worry." Matt said. "He can pull through… I think. I hope."

"How sure are you?" Keith asked.

"I'm not. But I hope…"

"Ha! There's no way to come back from this. I end my turn!"

Bentz slowly got to his feet. "I think I can win this…" He drew a card. "Hmm… maybe… yeah! This should do it… ouch… I activate Stray Lambs, which gives me two lamb tokens on my side of the field in defense mode. Now, I sacrifice them both for Behemoth, the King of All Animals (Earth/Beast/Effect, 2700/1500) in attack mode! Now, I can return two beast-type monster to my hand. So, Bazoo and King Tiger will come back. Not that I can summon them yet… still, a little insurance! And don't forget, because of Gaia Power, Behemoth gains 500 attack points, giving him 3200. Now, Behemoth, destroy Zaborg!"

Bentz: 100 

**Fiend: 1200**

"I end my turn."

"Wow. I didn't know that Bentz could do stuff like that." Keith said.

"You underestimate him." Matt said. "Don't ever underestimate anyone."

"But can't the fiend do something?" Julie asked.

"Maybe." Drake said.

"My turn… I'm going to destroy you." The fiend drew his card. "Grr… I set a monster and end my turn."

"This is it!" Bentz said. He drew a card. "I activate Nobleman of Crossout, and remove your facedown monster!"

"Grr…"

"Now, Behemoth, destroy him!"

Bentz: 100 

**Fiend: 0**

The fiend screamed and exploded. Bentz groaned and fell to his knees. "Ow… well, now I know how you four felt…"

"Yeah, don't worry, you get used to it." Julie said. "I have."

"Yeah, because you went through about a thousand of them." Drake said. Matt walked over to Bentz and crouched down next to him. Betnz threw his arm over Matt's shoulders and stood with Matt's help.

"Let's go." Matt said. "We need to get Flynn before we can resolve this." They walked out the front door into the night.


	6. Violation

Chapter 6- Violation

The front doors had been blown open. Glass was scattered over the ground.

"Haven't these fiends ever heard of knocking?!?" Keith said.

"Doubtful." Drake said, crunching through the glass on the ground.

"Well, they could have at least walked through. The door is automatic." Julie said.

"Great…one more thing I'll have to repair after this ordeal is over…" Bentz said. "This is going to be costly."

"Got that right." Matt said. He was barely straining under Bentz's weight. "But don't think in the future until we get out of the present."

"Yeah, first we've got to find Flynn." Drake said. "Where are the docks?"

"They're this way." Matt said, pointing down a paved path. "I had to come in past it. Oh, and by the way, it's loaded with fiends."

"Why didn't you kill them?" Julie asked.

"Couldn't. I had to find you guys first."

"Oh, yeah. How did you get past them?"

"I jumped through the trees. But obviously we can't do that, or at least you guys can't." Matt slipped his hand into his cloak and withdrew one of his kunai. "No…" He stuck his hand in again and came out with a few shurikens. "That's better. Now, here's the plan-" Three of the dog-things interrupted him. "Never mind! Kill those things! Aim for the necks!" He dropped Bentz off and jumped so high into the air that Drake lost sight of him. Drake whipped out his rifle and began to fire at the dog-things. They pulled their necks in and concealed their vulnerable necks.

"We can't kill them!" Keith said. "They're invulnerable as long as their necks are pulled in!" Matt landed next to him.

"That is true." He said. "But as long as their necks are in, they cannot attack." Matt stopped a dog with his foot. The dog growled but did little more. "See? They can't get their jaws open." He kicked the dog in its closed jaw and knocked it back to its comrades. "All too easy."

"Yeah. But we can't kill them, can we?" Drake said. "That's the problem, we can't get past them."

"We can… we just have to lure them out." Keith said.

"How?" Julie asked. Keith looked pointedly at her. "Oh, no, I know what's on your mind."

"I don't like it." Drake said. "And I haven't even heard the plan."

"No time to talk!" Matt said. "They're coming!" The three dogs charged at them. Drake began to fire at one. The bullets reflected off of its skin as they connected. As it grew close, its neck shot out and its jaw opened. Drake leveled his gun on its neck and fired at it. The dog howled in pain and fell to the ground, one of its teeth almost taking a piece of Drake's leg with it. Drake checked on Keith. He had shot the dog much sooner and it was now laying dead at its feet.

A scream came from behind him. Drake spun around. Julie hadn't been fast enough, and the dog had clamped its jaw on her leg. Blood was leaking out from under the dog's teeth. Julie had dropped her rifle and was trying to pull the dog's mouth off her leg.

_Not again! _Drake thought. Matt was instantly crouched on the back of the dog. He buried about thirteen kunai into its neck. He swung off of it as it died and caught Julie as she collapsed.

"Damn it!" he said, and laid her on the ground. He pulled a roll of bandages out of the pouch on his belt. "Julie, how much does it hurt?"

"Bad… ow…agh!" she convulsed impulsively, clutching her leg. Matt put his hand on her shoulder and pressed her to the ground.

"Calm down." He said. "Drake, keep her calm. I'm going to treat this." Drake sat down next to Julie.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"Ahaha… this is nothing." She said. "I've had… gah!" She tried to convulse again, but Drake held her down.

"Keep still. Matt's trying to do something about it." He said.

"I know… but… it hurts… so… aaaaah!"

"Come on! What's wrong?" Drake said. And idea came to him. _Is it possible that there was something in that beast's fangs?_

"Crud." Matt said. "Those shadow hounds aren't just vicious, they've got a special kind of venom in their fangs. It's really strong stuff. Stronger than arsenic, stronger than iocane, stronger than anything I've ever seen. It'll slowly make its way to her heart, constrict its movement, and eventually make it slow down so much that it'll stop."

"No!" Drake said.

"What are you going to do?" Keith said.

"Yeah, don't you have some knowledge of medicine?" Bentz asked.

"I do, but I don't have anything with me strong enough to counteract this. At least, I think I don't… the only thing I can do is bleed the vein that runs from the wounds back to her heart and hope." Matt said.

"You can't do that! That could be fatal!" Drake said.

"So could this." Matt said. Julie screamed in pain again. "And there isn't much time. Soon the poison will reach her heart, and then there is nothing I can do. Hm?" Matt looked over his shoulder. "What are you saying?"

"What…?" Drake was confused, and by the looks on their faces, he thought that neither Keith nor Bentz knew what was going on either. Matt folded his arms and closed his eyes in thought.

"You know that won't work, and that violates the laws of nature! I know that I could survive it! I'm surprised you would suggest that!"

"Who are you talking to…?" Drake asked.

"What the heck is going on here?" Bentz asked. Matt ignored both questions.

"Grr… stop it! I can't make that decision! It's an atrocity against the order of things!" Matt clutched at his head. Drake had never seen him so agitated, and he didn't even know what it was about. "It's the only way? You think so?!? No, really?!? I couldn't have guessed! It's the same as what I did last year?!? Not even close! You know I won't let you do something like that! Hell, you're _me!_ Oh blast, shut him up! He's screwing with my judgement!" Julie cried out again and convulsed again, clutching at her heart now. "Oh, damn it, you win! Go!" He grabbed Julie's arm.

A blue aura passed down Matt's arm and came to rest around Julie's entire body. Her body instantly relaxed. The blue aura ran back up Matt's arm. He grimaced and clutched at his heart. "It worked…"

"What did you do? What was that all about?" Keith asked.

"I've extracted the poison from her body. But, ow… it hurts…" He wrapped a bandage around the bite on Julie's leg.

"How? What? We thought you had gone mad, you were talking to yourself." Drake said.

"Well, I was talking to myself, sort of. I was talking to my other souls."

"Oh, yeah! I forgot about that. But how did you get the poison out?" Drake asked. Julie had fallen unconscious. Drake picked her body up and put it over his shoulder. _Back to hauling Julie all over the place, I suppose._ He thought.

"Though it's a violation of natural law, my good side convinced me to inject him into her body and let him take the poison out. Now it's in me…"

"Wait! Won't that kill you?" Keith asked.

"No. I'm partially immune to all poison. Don't ask why. It's too hard to explain. It'll hurt me but it won't kill me."

"What do you mean, it's a violation of natural law?" Drake asked.

"Well, removing a soul from the body is against natural law in itself. But injecting one's soul into another's body, no matter the reason, is just plain wrong. It goes against the very laws of nature. Souls are supposed to remain tied to their bodies. But…" Matt faltered. "…I don't know."

"So it's that bad?" Keith said.

"Yeah. I shouldn't have done it, but… it was the only way." Matt admitted. "Come on, we need to get moving toward the docks if we want to stop them before they get to the boat that Flynn is on." He ripped his kunai out of the dead dog's neck and put them inside his cloak, then proceeded down the path. The others followed.


	7. Shadows of Death

Chapter 7- Shadows of Death

Matt led them farther down the path and into the dense forest surrounding the main campus. "The designers of this layout must have been geniuses."

"What do you mean?" Drake asked.

"They decided to make the path between the docks and the main building a long, winding thing that goes through this forest. And then they obstructed the way that didn't have the path so you couldn't just run that way."

"And that makes them geniuses…?"

"He's being sarcastic." Keith said.

"Oh yeah!"

"Yes, I've always wondered what they were thinking when they made this path." Bentz said. "It doesn't make any sense. It would have been much more economical and practical to make it a straight path. Instead, they made a path that goes past the airstrip and then turns around and goes back to the docks."

"Of course." Matt said, smiling. "That didn't stop me on the way here."

"You climbed the arches?" Drake asked. The massive arches that served as gates to the shadow realm and had apparently been constructed a considerable amount of time ago had been left standing. The builders had filled the holes with cement and filled the hole in the center with a wall of steel, creating a 40-foot high façade on the academy's front.

"No. I jumped over them."

"How did you jump that high?!? That's physically impossible." Keith said.

"Because I am shinobi." Matt stopped. "Hang on. I feel… something."

"What is it?" Drake asked.

"I don't now… it has human form." Matt said. "But it has this dark aura I'm not sure I'm fond of. Ready yourselves for combat." Drake set Julie's body on the ground and cocked his rifle. Keith readied his SAW. Matt whipped out several shurikens. They all tensed, waiting for whatever it was.

Flynn walked around the corner.

"Flynn!" Drake said. "You got out?"

"Hm? Oh! Yeah, I did. I didn't expect to see you guys here." Flynn said. Matt looked suspicious.

"How did you escape?" He asked.

"I knocked the guards out and stole the keys." Flynn said. He moved in between them. "I see you've picked the Chancellor out of a rough spot. Nice work." He moved to pat Drake on the back. Matt caught his arm before it connected. "What are you doing?"

"You're not Flynn." Matt said. At some point he had pulled his headband up. Drake had never seen Matt's irregular eye this close up. There were small black spots in it, about eight of them, and they began swimming around the iris in a rapid circle.

"What are you talking about?" Flynn said. "Of course I'm Flynn."

"Then explain to me…" Matt twisted Flynn's arm and forced his hand open. A small metal device was in his palm. "…why you are trying to plant a bomb on Drake's back." A very nasty look crossed Flynn's face. He wrenched his arm from Matt's grasp and backed away.

"How did you know?" he said.

"Primarily, most people have a color in their iris. Yours is simply white. A very milky white, at that. Secondly, Flynn never fails to make eye contact with those that he speaks to. You failed to do so." Matt slipped the shurikens into his cloak and pulled out a single kunai. "What are you?"

Drake was confused. He had never noticed either of the things that Matt had just spoken of. _Has Matt really lost it?_ He thought. Keith looked absolutely astounded. Flynn's outline suddenly got fuzzy. Then it was quite less than definite. He lost all color and turned into a black pool of… something on the ground. Then it reformed into a sort of shadow. It didn't lay on the ground, though, this thing stood straight up. Its edge was slightly spiky. It had no feet, just a large area where the black stuff met the ground. It had a large yellow mouth with pointed black teeth, so black that the teeth looked like they were a part of the face. It had slanted yellow eyes that lacked pupils.

"So… you saw through it. But now you die!" It slid across the ground toward them at a frightening pace. Drake panicked and grabbed Julie's body from the ground, prepared to get out of the way, while Keith slung his SAW and looked ready to get out of the way. Matt lazily stood his ground. The shadow creature raised one fearsome clawlike hand, laughing, and prepared to strike Matt with it.

"RUN!!!" Drake shouted. It was over in an instant.

All that was left of the shadow-thing was shreds of black on the ground. Matt had cut it in so many ways that Drake didn't want to think about it. Matt was standing over the black shreds, his kunai held out in front of him at the end of his last strike, his eyes closed, a faint smile on his face.

"Hehe." Matt spun the kunai around a few times, then flipped open a conveniently-sized pouch on his belt and tossed the knife in. "That kind of attack rarely works."

"How did you identify that so fast?" Keith asked.

"Well, obviously I saw the shadow energies surrounding that Shadow with my shadow eye." Matt said. "But it's mostly just old ninja training. You gotta be on your toes around other ninja, cause most of them are masters of disguise. You learn to recognize the mannerisms of your friends, so that no one can get you by masquerading as your friends."

"Did anyone ever do that to you?" Drake asked.

"No. Everyone I ever cared about is dead- well, everyone but Brooklyn and Matt Jurik."

"Wow… I never knew."

"It doesn't matter. We need to get going. This path is still really long. Just stay on your toes." Matt said. "It looks like the third level of the Shadow Realm has been opened."

"What do you mean?" Bentz asked. "There are levels to that place?"

"Yes. I knew about the shadows, having seen one once before when I accidentally sent myself to the third level of the shadow realm, which is almost impossible to escape from without the key. I had never seen the Shadow Mutts before, so they must have come from level two. All I know that is that there are six levels, total, and I'm not sure I want to find out what's on level six. After all, the door to the sixth level is supposedly marked 666…"

"Huh?" Drake said. He had no idea why that would be bad.

"666 is the number of the beast." Keith whispered in his ear. "It's generally associated with ultimate evil."

"Oh." Drake scratched his head. "So what if whoever it is unlocks the sixth level? Are you saying we're screwed?"

"Yes. But there's a catch to opening the sixth level, there's some other requirement that has to met. I'm not sure what it is, though." Matt admitted. "Don't worry, Matt Jurik has set up Brooklyn with all the technology and researching power one could ask for. Brooklyn'll figure it out, after all, Matt himself decided to work on that! But for now we need to try and prevent further damage. After the fourth gate is open, the shadow creatures will no longer be limited to coming through the arches. They will be able to materialize anywhere on Earth where there are two vertical structures within forty meters of each other. That means almost any major city."

"Okay then, let's stop talking and get moving!" Bentz said, finally getting the sense of urgency. Julie groaned and sat up.

"Nice of you to join us." Drake said.

"Ow… my leg hurts." She said.

"Can you walk?" Keith said.

"Yeah, I think so." She stood up and gingerly put some weight on it. She grimaced. "I should be okay."

"Okay then, nothing to stop us now." Matt said. "We need to get moving, if I'm right, there are still a lot of other things between us and Flynn."


	8. Fight at the Airstrip

Chapter 8- Fight at the Airstrip

"Okay." Keith said. "So now we have to deal these Shadows and the, um, Shadow Mutts?"

"Well, we may as well call them that." Matt said. "Otherwise it'll be difficult to know what someone else is talking about if we don't standardize the terminology."

"So, we call them Shadow Mutts?"

"Yeah." Matt looked around a corner and quickly pulled back. "We've made it to the airstrip. Only thing is, there's a reception committee."

"Okay, that's not too hard." Drake said. "Can't we just shoot them from here?"

Matt smiled sadly. "Alas, we cannot. There are four of them that have rocket launchers."

"ROCKET LAUNCHERS?!?" Drake shouted. Matt backhanded him across the face. "Ow, what was that for?"

"Shut up. I don't want them to here us." Matt peeked around the corner again. "Okay, here's the plan. I'm going to go ahead through the trees, you all will stay back here, peek out _once_, and fire three times into the group. Then you will run as far away from this corner as possible. Don't do anything except for defend yourselves until I get back."

"How will we know it's you?" Bentz asked.

"He has a fair point, with these 'Shadows' roaming around now, we have to be careful about splitting up." Keith said.

"Hmm…" Matt said. "I'll send good Matt and evil Matt to bring you out. I won't come back."

"Okay." Keith said.

"Ready?" Everyone nodded. "Okay, go!" There was a quick whoosh of air as Matt jumped up into the trees and began to leap from one to another.

"Okay, ready?" Keith asked. Drake cocked his rifle.

"Yeah."

"I'm good." Julie said. She was holding her rifle. Each of them got close to the tree nearest to the edge of the path.

"Ready…" Keith said, his hand held up for stillness. Drake held his rifle steady. "Now!" Drake whipped around the tree and pulled the trigger three times without aiming, then quickly ran back around the corner.

"Run!" He said to Bentz, who had been standing still near the corner. He turned and followed Drake. Drake could hear Julie and Keith following him. They ran for about thirty yards, then stopped.

"And now… we hope that those fiends don't get smart with their rockets." Keith said. A rocket exploded at the place where they had been moments before.

"I don't think they will be." Julie said. "I think they lack the brains to do it."

"Hello."

"Ah!" Evil Matt had snuck up behind Julie and whispered in her ear. "Don't do that!"

"He can not help it, he is evil." Good Matt said. "Matt is done killing all those monsters."

"Already?" Bentz said.

"Of course." Evil Matt said. "He's fucking Matt, he can do shit like that."

"Well, I see." Bentz said, starteled by Evil Matt's foul language.

"Let us go then." Good Matt said. They all followed them (Him?) to the airstrip. Matt was scavenging among the dead corpses.

"Hello." Matt said. His other souls vanished. "I presume there were no problems?"

"Nope, we were good." Drake said.

"That's good. Grab some ammo and let's move out."

"Not yet." Came a voice from the other end of the airstrip.

"Intelligent fiend." Matt said lazily. "I'll take him."

"Ha! I'm stronger than you!" the fiend said.

"Prove it." Matt said, and pulled a duel disk out of nowhere.

"Let's duel!"

Matt: 4000 

**Fiend: 4000**

"I shall begin!" said the fiend. "I activate Card Destruction, with which we must both discard our entire hands, and then redraw new cards!"

Matt yawned. "Basic." He slid his hand into the graveyard and drew five new cards. "Now what?"

"I set a card facedown and a monster in defense mode! That's all."

"Okay." Matt drew a card. "I will summon my Mpirian Knight (Light/Warrior/Mpire, 1900/1700) in attack mode. Then, I'll activate my Mpirian Trap Check card. I can only activate it when I have an Mpire monster on my side of the field. Then, I can activate this card. I take one of your facedown cards and look at it. You cannot activate it. If it is a trap, then it gets destroyed. Else, it returns facedown and you cannot activate it for the remainder of the turn. Of course, it was Mirror Force…" The card was destroyed. "And I have a pretty good idea of what your facedown monster is, so I will not attack."

"Why would he not attack?" Julie asked.

"Because it might be something that he would regret attacking, like a monster that allows the fiend to search his deck for another." Bentz said.

"Oh."

"Instead, I will lay a facedown and end my turn."

"Grr… I'll kill you!" The fiend shouted.

"Really?" Matt said. "Hehe… I- ow…" Matt's hand moved to his heart.

"Ha! You'll die from the shadow game!"

"No, not today…" Matt said under his breath. "Why did it have to come active today?"

"What's he talking about?" Julie asked.

"Yeah, he never did something like this before." Drake said.

"I don't know, but I don't think it can be good." Keith said.

The fiend drew a card. "Ha! I sacrifice my facedown Mystic Tomato for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch (Light/Thunder/Effect, 2400/1000)! And when he's summoned, your monster is destroyed!"

"Oh well." Matt said. "My facedown is sufficient."

"Ha, and that's why I'm not going to attack, because I'm not stupid enough to try and get past that! Instead, I set a card facedown and end my turn!"

"Hehe… gah… too bad. If you had attacked, you would have done damage." Matt said. "Oh well. My turn." He drew a card. "And what a card! I activate Mpirian Strike. I select one Mpire monster on my field or in my hand to activate it. Then, I'm allowed the destroy one monster on the field. So, Zaborg is gone…"

"No! He was my strongest monster!"

"Precisely why I destroyed him. And since the Mpire monster I selected was in my hand, now I am allowed to special summon it. So, say hello to King Adam of Mpire (Dark/Warrior/Mpire/Effect, 2500/1800) in attack mode. Now, attack him directly!"

"Ha! I activate Sakuretsu Armor! Now he's destroyed!"

"One interesting little quirk about this king… he cannot be destroyed except for in battle, as a direct result of the battle."

"What?!? That's not fair!"

"Does it have to be?"

Matt: 4000 

**Fiend: 1500**

"I end my turn."

"Fine then!" The fiend drew a card.

"You know, that is kind of cheap." Drake said.

"Who cares? Matt's winning!" Julie said.

"Yes, he's winning, but he looks absolutely terrible." Bentz said. "He's gotten a lot paler than when I first saw him, and his hand keeps moving to his heart."

"Do you think something is wrong with him?" Keith said.

"I don't know for sure."

"Hey, stupids, shut up so I can trash this guy! I set a card and a monster. That's it."

"Hmm. I know what you're trying to do." Matt drew a card. "It won't work. I activate my facedown, Mpirian Speed Summon! This turn, instead of summoning one monster, I can summon two Mpire monsters from my hand. So, first I'll summon Mpirian Soldier, but he won't be hanging around for long since I'm going to sacrifice him to summon Lord Matt of Mpire (Light/Warrior/Mpire/Effect, 2100/2100). And now, I'll attack your facedown monster with him!"

"Ha! Sangan! Now I'll add Kuriboh to my hand."

"Fine then, I attack directly."

"I'll discard Kuriboh to negate the damage."

"Okay. I set a card and I'm done."

"Ha!" The fiend drew. "I win! Nothing can stop me now! I activate Soul Release! I'll remove five monsters from my graveyard, and then I'll activate my Return from the Different Dimension Trap Card! I'll give up half my life points…"

Matt: 4000 

**Fiend: 750**

"…and special summon a slew of monsters! First, Despair from the Dark (Dark/Zombie/Effect, 2800/3000). Second, Zaborg the Thunder Monarch (Light/Thunder/Effect, 2400/1000)! Third, Beast of Talwar (Dark/Fiend, 2400/2150). Fourth, Ryu Kokki (Dark/Zombie/Effect, 2400/2000)! And finally, I special summon my Great Dezard (Dark/Spellcaster/Effect, 1900/2300)! All of them are in attack mode! There's no way for you to survive this!"

"Is there now?" Matt said.

"No! I attack your stupid king with my Despair!"

"First off, he's not stupid. Secondly, I activate my trap, Hero Negated. I can only activate this card when you attack my strongest monster with a stronger monster. Your monster's attack is then negated."

"No! That means that I can't break through this turn!"

"Correction. It means that you will not break through any turn. You see, Adam has the ability to provoke all of you monsters into single combat with him. So now, all of your other monsters must rise up to fight him."

"No! But that means I'll lose!"

"Yes. Now, all of his monsters, attack Adam!"

Matt: 4000 

**Fiend: 0**

The fiend exploded. "Just like old times." Matt said. He grimaced against some kind of pain. "Come on, let's- gaaah…" Matt fell to his knees.

"Matt!" Julie ran to his side. "Are you okay?"

He seemed to ignore her and continued to stare at the ground, his eyes wide. "Why today? Why did it have to come activate today? Why…"

"Matt…" Drake said. He didn't respond.

"We need to get him somewhere where he can rest." Julie said, resuming her role as the medic in the group. "I fear that there's something gravely wrong with him."


	9. A Night in Camp

Chapter 9- A Night in Camp

"We need to get to a safe location if we're going to rest." Keith said. He yawned. "How late is it?"

"Nearly 11:00." Drake said, checking his watch. He yawned. "We should get some sleep. Otherwise bad things might happen."

"Yeah, where are we going to go?"

"The green dorm isn't very far from here." Julie said. "I would know, I spent a year there."

"Okay." Keith said. Drake walked over to Matt, who was still on the ground on all fours. Drake crouched down and helped Matt up. Matt mumbled something about a pain in his heart.

"Right. Let's go." Drake said. "Uh, which way?"

"This way." Julie said, and began to lead them through the woods.

"Through the woods?" Bentz said. "I could have sworn there was a path."

Julie snapped a branch off a tree next to her. There was a very rough path, overflowing with leaves and other brush. "There is one, it's just not much."

"I need to fix that…" Bentz muttered. They tramped on the path for nearly fifteen minutes until they finally saw the dilapidated green dorm. It had once again been beaten down in the fiend invasion, but a few of the rooms were intact.

"We'll stay in that one." Julie said, pointing to one of the rooms that seemed to be in fairly good shape. Keith opened the door and let them all in.

"These guys are in worse shape than I thought." He said. The room was small, and there was a very small bunk bed with a roll-out bed underneath it.

"Well." Drake said, and sat Matt down in the corner. "It's better than nothing." Matt groaned and looked up.

"Ow." He said. "Are we setting up camp or something?"

"Yeah. We decided… well, I decided that you could use some rest." Julie said, and flushed a little.

"I could use some. Thank you." Matt said.

"Care to enlighten us as to why you suddenly lost your usual cool?" Keith asked and sat on the bed. Drake and Bentz sat next to him. Julie sat on the chair at the desk in the corner.

"Yes, I should tell you." Matt said, and massaged his heart. "It only happened about eleven months ago."

"What happened?" Drake asked.

"Well, after I got back to my… home after the events of last year, I experienced random pains in the region of my heart. So, I went to a doctor to get a diagnosis."

"How did you do that, with the entire Egyptian government after you?" Bentz asked.

"There are some doctors that I can access without questions and without record of my visit. I have contacts." Matt grimaced from the pain in his heart. "It took about four days of testing before the doctor found what was wrong." He paused and leaned back up against the wall he was sitting next to.

"What was it?" Julie asked.

"I was diagnosed with a very rare heart disease. So rare, is it, in fact, that it does not even have a name. It is also very dangerous. Terminal, in fact."

"Terminal?" Julie looked confused, but she also looked like she suspected the answer.

"It means that I'll die eventually from it. It has just become active. I will die in 48 hours."

There was a long silence following this pronouncement. No one had expected this. It was broken by Julie's sobs.

"Oh, god… why that…"

"I know it's hard to accept." Matt said. "In a little less than 48 hours, I will no longer be able to help you. Until then, though, I will do everything within my power to stop this. But until then, you all should get some sleep."

"What about you?" Keith asked.

"I'll keep watch and alert someone when I need to switch."

--------------------------------------

Drake woke up, sweating. He had had another of his nightmares. He sat up. Matt was standing vigilante by the door. Drake got out of the bed and walked over to him.

"Couldn't sleep, eh?" Matt said before Drake was within his range of sight.

"Yeah, how did you know…?" Drake asked.

"Remember, I can feel the vibrations in the air and ground to detect those who would try and sneak up on me." Matt said before Drake could finish. "Nightmares?"

Drake nodded. "How is it that you never seem tired?"

"I don't need almost any sleep at all." Matt said. "Good thing, too, since I'm an insomniac."

"Really?" Drake said. "You seem to have a lot of disorders and the like… your eye, your heart, and your sleeping abilities…"

"Not to mention my immune system." Matt said.

"Huh?"

"I haven't said it, but I have AIDS as well."

"How did you get that?!?"

"Accidentally received it in a blood transfusion. Fourtunatly, by some miracle my body was able to pick it out and slow it down drastically, enough so that I would be able to live an almost normal life."

"Why did you need a blood transfusion?"

"I got hit by eight kunai in a battle during my ninja days. I nearly died, and when the ninja medics transfused some blood so that I wouldn't bleed to death, they accidentally got a sample with a small amount of HIV in it."

"That stinks."

"It hasn't affected me much."

"You've had a rough past."

"It's not too bad. Sure I was bullied in school, and I hated social life, which sucked because I was in a family of eight."

"Oh. I never knew."

"Most people don't. I don't tell almost anyone."

"Why not?"

"Don't ask."

"Will you be okay with your heart and all that stuff?"

"Yeah. My heart problem won't affect me again until it kills me. And the other stuff doesn't do much to me, not any more than what it did last year, which was negligible. And now, you need to sleep."

"I can't get to sleep…"

"Here." Matt said, and reached into a pouch on his belt (he seemed to have a lot of pouches) and withdrew a little green leaf. "This is a fairly rare herb that will help you get to sleep. Just take a bit off the edge and chew it up."

Drake tore off an edge of the leaf. He climbed into bed, put the herb in his mouth, chewed, and was asleep as soon as he swallowed.


	10. Road to the Docks

Chapter 10- Road to the Docks

Drake woke up from an undisturbed sleep while the sun was just coming up. The sky was still red. Everyone else was already up.

"Good, you're up." Matt said. "You've slept for nearly six hours."

_Six hours?!?_ Drake thought in disbelief. _But that means that Matt only has 42 hours left!_

"Alright, let's go." Keith said, slinging his rifle. "We need to go bust Flynn out before the fiends get there."

Drake jumped out of the bed and grabbed his rifle. "Let's get going then!"

"One problem." Matt said. "We're surrounded."

"What?" Julie said. "I don't see-" She was interrupted when a bullet shattered the doorpost. She threw herself back into the room. "I guess we are."

"Yeah." Matt said. He continued to stand in the doorway despite all the bullets that were flying past him. "So, here's the plan… we're going out the back."

"Uh, Matt, there is no back door." Drake said.

"Really?" Matt walked to the back of the room and kicked a hole in the wall large enough for even Bentz to walk through. "Now there is. Go!" Julie jumped through the hole, closely followed by Keith and Bentz. Drake grabbed the rest of his stuff off the desk and jumped out after them. They all met up in a clearing about forty yards from the dorm. Matt joined them a few minutes later. "Everyone okay?"

"Yeah." Julie said, massaging her upper arm. It had been creased by a stray bullet.

"I'm good." Keith said. "Now where do we go?"

"This way." Matt said, and lead them through some very thick underbrush. They cam out near the airstrip.

"Uh… isn't this the wrong way?" Bentz said. "Shouldn't we be going towards the docks?"

"Yeah, but that might result in an inconvenient ambush because we haven't been there before. This way." He set off down the road next to the airstrip. Everyone followed.

"So, how far is the airstrip from here?" Keith asked Bentz.

"Pretty far. The path winds through the forest and across the beach." Bentz said. "As Matt said earlier, the designers of the campus were stupid."

"Great. That means that we have to waste more time getting there." Drake said.

"Stop!" Matt said from the front. Everyone fell in behind him. "There's a pocket of fiends ahead. None of them seem aware that we're hear yet, but I don't want to take any chances. So, let's see… what to do? There's an intelligent one and about twelve brutal ones."

"Anyone have a hand grenade?" Keith suggested.

"No." Matt said. "Even they won't miss a grenade flying at them. So…" He pulled out several kunai. "We hit them hard and fast as usual. Make sure you hit the ones that can be killed. We wouldn't want to waste ammo."

"Got that right." Drake said. "We have very little as it is."

Matt checked on the fiends. "What the heck are they doing?"

"What?" Drake looked at the fiends. Some of them started to run away. "This doesn't look good."

"No, I'll bet you anything that they're going for Flynn!" Keith said.

"Yes, which means that we have to move quickly." Matt said. He jumped out to confront the fiends. "Hello, fools!" Several of the fiends roared at him, leveled their rifles, and began to shoot. With inhuman speed that seemed to be characteristic of him, Matt deflected the shots with the array of kunai in his hands. "Come on, you won't get me like that!"

One of the fiends pulled out a rocket launcher. Drake, suddenly getting why Matt had jumped out, shot the fiend three times in the head. Dazed and confused (and also very dead) the fiend fell to the ground. Confused as to where the shots were coming from, the fiends roared and renewed their assault on Matt. Drake, Julie and Keith shot them all down with little trouble on their parts.

"That was easy." Julie said. "Almost too easy…" Just then, a fiend came running out of the forest, roaring. Drake tried to draw a bead on it, but it had already reached them. Julie was closest (_What else is new? _Drake thought) and the fiend almost removed her head from her body. Fortunately, Matt wasn't about to sit idly by and just watch it happen. He rammed what seemed to be a glowing blue sphere into the fiend's chest. His arm came out the back of the fiend.

The fiend's eyes grew wide and it keeled over. Matt pulled his arm out of the fiend's dead corpse and watched it fall, the sphere still in his hand. "Hehe… I love this thing. So useful… and so deadly, too."

"What was that?" Julie, who looked like she had been scared out of her wits, asked.

"A little something my sensai taught me. Pay it no mind." The sphere disappeared.

"Hey, you! Yes, you on the hill!" shouted one the intelligent fiends, pointing at Julie. "I challenge you to a duel!"

"Fine by me!" She shouted back and activated her duel disk.

"Let's duel!"

Julie: 4000 

**Fiend: 4000**

"I'll go first!" said the fiend. He drew and smirked. "Ha! You'll never defeat me now! I set a card facedown and summon my Elemental Hero Avian (Wind/Warrior, 1000/1000) in attack mode! That's all!"

"Exactly what I was thinking." Julie said. "Is that all you've got? A simple E-hero like that won't stop me."

"Oh, but it isn't the E-hero she should be worried about." Matt said. "There are other things much more frightening."

"Like what?" Drake asked. "As far as I can see, it's just a bunch of E-heroes…"

"I don't think so. I think it's something else."

"My turn!" Julie drew a card. "I summon Zure, Knight of Dark World (Dark/Fiend, 1800/1500) in attack mode! Now, Zure, destroy his Avian!"

Julie: 4000 

**Fiend: 3200**

"Ha! You fell right into my trap! I activate the trap card D-time! When this card is activated, I'm allowed to add a Destiny Hero monster with a level equal to or lower than the one you just destroyed to my hand! So, I'll take my Destiny Hero- Fear Monger!"

"So what? I set a card and end my turn."

"Ha! That was a trick! Now it's my turn." The fiend drew a card. "I summon Destiny Hero- Doom Lord (Dark/Warrior/Effect, 600/800) in attack mode! And now, I'll activate his effect to remove your monster for two turns!"

"No!"

"Unfortunately, I cannot attack the turn I use this effect, so I'll just set a card and end my turn."

"Okay, that's good. My turn!" Julie drew a card. "Yeah, this'll help! I summon Beiige, Vanguard of Dark World (Dark/Fiend/Effect, 1600/1300) in attack mode! Now, Beiige, destroy that Doom Lord!"

Julie: 4000 

**Fiend 2200**

"I activate the trap card Destiny Signal! Now I can special summon one Destiny Hero monster from my deck so long as its level four or lower! So, I'll special summon my Destiny Hero- Captain Tenacious (Dark/Warrior/Effect, 800/800) in defense mode!"

"So what? He's pathetic."

"Not for very long."

"I end my turn."

"And I start mine!" The fiend drew a card. "I sacrifice my Destiny Hero for Destiny Hero- Double Dude (Dark/Warrior/Effect, 1000/1000) in attack mode!"

"So? He's terrible."

"Not for long, because I activate Dark City!"

"A Dark City? Isn't that sort of like Skyscraper for the E-heroes?" Drake asked.

"Exactly." Matt said.

"Now, Destiny Hero Double Hero, attack Beiige!"

"What? He has more attack points!"

"Not for long, because now my Dark City gives my Destiny Hero an extra 1000 attack points!"

"No!"

Julie: 3600 

**Fiend: 2200**

"And if that wasn't enough to rattle you, my D-Hero has to ability to attack twice! So, Double Dude, attack again!"

Julie: 2600 

**Fiend: 2200**

"Ow…"

"Ha! I'll end my turn."

"Fine! I know that Dark City only works when you attack." Julir drew a card. "So I'll just summon a good monster and kill that Dude! I summon Dark Blade (Dark/Warrior, 1800/1600) in attack mode! Attack Double Dude!"

Julie: 2600 

**Fiend: 1400**

"Julie came back!" Drake said.

"Don't be too sure." Keith said.

"Huh?"

The fiend drew a card. "And now I summon two Double Dude tokens! (Dark/Warrior, 1000/1000)"

"How?!?" Julie said.

"When you destroyed my Double Dude, he split into these two! And now… I sacrifice one for my Destiny Hero- Dasher (Dark/Warrior/Effect, 2100/1000) in attack mode! And, just for kicks, I'll sacrifice the other token to give my Dasher another 1000 attack points!"

"Oh no!"

"Now, Dasher, attack her Dark Blade!"

Julie: 1300 

**Fiend: 1400**

Julie groaned and fell to all fours.

"Ha! You cannot possibly take me down!" The fiend said. "You can barely stand!"

Julie got slowly to her feet. "Ow… back to last year, huh? Okay… I can do this. You done?"

"Yes, because Dasher attacked, he must go to defense mode. I end my turn."

"Okay… ow." Julie drew her card. "Huh… this might do it. I activate Gateway to Dark World! This card allows me to special summon one 'Dark World' monster from my graveyard, so long as I don't summon any other monsters this turn. So, I'll bring back my Zure, Knight of Dark World! Now, attack Dasher!"

"Hmph. So what? You done?"

"Yes, I end my turn."

"Fine then! I'll just set a monster and end my turn."

"Okay… let's see here." Julie drew a card. "I set a monster facedown and attack your monster!"

"Ha! That was Destiny Hero- Fear Monger!"

"So? What does he do?"

"You'll find out soon enough!"

"I end my turn, then."

"My turn!" The fiend drew a card. "And now, the special ability of Fear Monger activates! It allows me to special summon any Destiny Hero in my graveyard, so long as it is not 'Fear Monger!' So, I'll bring back Dasher!"

"Crud! I thought Julie had it wrapped up!" Drake said.

"Yeah, so did I." Keith said. "This fiend is good…"

"Don't worry yet." Matt said. "I think she'll win."

"How do you know?" Bentz asked.

"He has limited future sight." Keith explained.

"Now, Dasher, attack Zure!"

Julie: 1000 

**Fiend: 1400**

Julie coughed. A small trickle of blood leaked out the corner of her mouth. "At least he goes into defense mode now." She said.

"Curses… she's right. Oh well, I'll destroy you another way!"

"No, you won't. I'll win this turn… I hope." Julie drew a card. I activate Card Destruction! Now we must both discard our entire hands!"

"So? What can you do with… oh, great. Not that!"

"Yes, now I can special summon my Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World (Dark/Fiend/Effect, 2300/1400) and Sillva, Warlord of Dark World (Dark/Fiend/Effect, 2300/1400) in attack mode! And, since Broww, Huntsman of Dark World was in my hand, I can draw a new card! Not that it matters…"

"No! You can't beat me!"

"Yes I can! Goldd, destroy Dasher!"

"NO!"

"Now, Sillva, destroy him!"

Julie: 1000 

**Fiend: 0**

The fiend exploded. Julie turned to everyone else and coughed again. A small amount of blood came out. "I'm okay."

"Thank God…" Drake said. "I almost thought you'd had it."

"Don't worry." Matt said.

"Yeah, if you want to worry about someone, worry about Flynn!" Keith said. "There's probably a ton of fiends there by now."

"Yeah, we really should get going." Matt said. "Let's roll." They all began to walk down the road to the docks.


	11. Ambush

Chapter 11- Ambush

"So, how much farther?" Drake asked. He had taken to keeping track of the time Matt had left to live due to his heart condition. After Julie's duel, he only had about 42 hours, 22 minutes.

"Not too much, but we should take it slowly." Bentz said. "It's a rough path, not very accommodating."

"I would say take it slow for a different reason." Matt said. "I would say to avoid any potential ambushes, as we know that some fiends probably have reported back to their superiors. There are probably several set up around here… like, over there." He threw three kunai at three fiends who had just jumped out of some trees next to the path. All three died before they got anywhere near them.

"How do you have such a fast reaction time?" Keith wondered. "And also, you seem to rarely be surprised. You have remarkable 360° awareness. How do you do it?"

"Well, I have to have a fast reaction time to be a ninja, if your slow as a ninja, you die very fast. And I have that ability to feel through the air around me, feel vibrations in the ground, and 'see' in a different way than through my eyes."

"Oh yeah, I forgot." Keith said, and they walked on. Several (horribly failed) ambush attempts, they were finally within visible range of the docks. There was only one ship, and it was surrounded by fiends.

"That wasn't too bad." Drake said.

"Why does that make me feel uneasy?" Matt said.

"It would seem that anything being easy makes you uneasy." Keith said.

"Maybe…" Matt looked around. "Okay, how should we go about this?"

"I don't know. Usually you make up all the plans." Drake said.

"Yeah, that question was semi-rhetorical." Matt scratched his chin. "Hmm… there's a lot of fiends… and Shadow Hounds. Not an intelligent fiend to be seen…"

"Is that normal?" Julie said.

"No, usually a group this size has a leader." Keith said.

"Yes, that can't mean anything good." Matt said. "Let's see… I don't want to split up, with the threat of a Shadow picking one of us out. So, we'll all have to attack in one large group… and that's a problem since one of those fiends has a rocket launcher. One shot is enough to toast us all… that's a huge problem. So… let's see…" Matt closed his eyes and thought some more.

Drake heard a twig snap. He turned and saw a large procession of fiends making there way through the forest. "Crap!" He shouted, and capped the fiend in the head. The brute went down, but more fiends came. "Guys! They're trying to ambush us through the forest!"

"We realize that! They're everywhere!" Keith said, hammering away on his SAW. Fiends were pouring out of the forest. There were dogs and fiends everywhere. Drake spotted a few shadows following the fiends out and reminded himself to keep on his toes. Then he realized that surviving the onslaught was probably a better thing to focus on.

It was as if the entire fiend army had been hidden in the forest and set on them. Drake couldn't remember a harder fight in the expedition of the previous year. The fiends came at him from every direction, he was lucky to go five minutes without getting horribly maimed. The noise was so great that Drake couldn't distinguish his friends' voices from the roars of the fiends. One of the fiend's got him across the face, leaving three fine scratches across his cheek. He clubbed the fiend with the muzzle of his rifle and shot it twice. The fiends continued to press in on all sides. Drake locked in a new clip.

_How many of them are there?!?_ Drake thought. _I have to have killed at least eighty by now, but they keep coming! _Drake shot down another fiend and found Julie. Her left sleeve had been torn to shreds, and blood was flowing from that arm. Evidently she had been using it to guard herself.

"Are you okay?" Drake asked.

"Yeah! Don't get distracted!" Julie said. They fought next to each other for a long time, killing fiend after fiend. However, sheer numbers began to overwhelm them, and they could no longer keep them at bay. Just when they thought they were gone, Matt came lurching past and knocked all the fiends flat with a series of very strange movements. He was moving around in a very abrupt and random way. The fiends, completely and totally confused, were no match as he killed them all. After he was done, he straightened up and smiled.

"Hahahaha… that was fun." Matt said. Keith and Bentz came over. Bentz was bleeding the least, Keith must have been attempting to defend him, and doing very well at it, since he was bleeding quite badly. Keith was wrapping his arms in bandages that he must have gotten from Matt. Matt just kept laughing.

"What did you do?" Drake asked. "What was with all the lurching around and stuff?"

"That was my Drunken Fist!" Matt said.

"Drunken… what?" Julie asked.

"Drunken fist! It's a fun fighting style that utilizes drunken movements to confuse your enemies! And I must say, it worked very well right there!"

"We can see that." Keith said, looking at all the dead fiend corpses. "But why would you learn something like that?"

"Because Drunken Fist is so much fun!"

Keith sighed. "Oh well, whatever. So, what do we do now?"

Matt smiled. "We kill the fiends that are trying to walk up the path behind us!" He turned around and fell back into his Drunken Fist stance, wavering unsteadily on the spot. Drake reloaded his AK, and so did Keith and Julie.

"Let's go." Drake said, and turned to face the fiends. The army wasn't nearly as large as the one that had just ambushed and almost killed them all. Drake began to unload on the fiends as they came closer. Keith and Julie did likewise. Matt wobbled into the crowd and began to punch and kick the fiends with incredible force, enough to force his fist or foot through them.

There was a small explosion. Drake looked in the direction of the noise and saw a rocket fly past his face. It exploded a few feet behind him and catapulted him into the air. One of the fiends caught him around the stomach with one hand and smiled, then began to squeeze. Drake dropped his rifle, cursed, and tried to pry the fiend's fingers off of him. The fiend smiled and squeezed harder. Drake could barely breathe. The fiend continued to squeeze and Drake spat out some blood as the pressure built up.

_This is it, I'm going to die! _He thought. _I can't stop him…_

Just as Drake felt his ribs were about to collapse, Matt lurched past and shoved his fist through the fiend's face. The fiend let go and Drake fell to the ground. Matt dropped down next to him.

"Are you okay?" He shouted. His leg shot out and crushed a fiend's skull.

"Yeah!" Drake wheezed "I'll be fine!" He picked up his rifle. Matt nodded and ran off again, kicking and punching all the way. Drake stood up shakily, and cut down a fiend that was running toward him with a hail of bullets. By that time most of the fiends had died. The rocket launcher fiend was still alive, protected behind a row of other fiends. He was loading another rocket. Drake began to back away, firing all the way. He found Julie reloading a little farther back.

"Drake! Are you okay? I saw what happened!" She shouted over the noise of the battle.

"Yeah! Get ready to move, that fiend is dangerous with that rocket launcher." Drake said. The fiend had finished loading a new rocket. He drew a bead on Drake and Julie. Julie's eyes grew wide. "GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Drake shouted, and shoved Julie off to the side, out of the rocket's path. Drake tried to dive out of the way, but he didn't move fast enough to completely avoid the blast radius, and was caught and thrown a little farther. Fortunately, it didn't hurt as much as the first one and he managed to land better.

Drake leveled his rifle on the fiends guarding the rocket fiend. He had to take out the beast before it could fire again. He wasn't sure that he could dodge another rocket, or that the fiend would miss. Just as he was about to take a shot, all the fiends were filled with shurikens. Matt dropped to the ground in front of the rocket fiend. Then he put a vast amount of kunia knives into its thick hide.

At that moment Keith had finished killing the last fiend elsewhere. "We did it." He said. "We won."

"Yeah." Bentz said. He had been hiding a long ways back and had come back when the number of fiends had been reduced.

"What are you talking about?" Julie asked. "You didn't do anything."

"This is true."

"All right, good job." Matt said. "Anyone hurt?"

"No, I'm good." Keith said. Apart from the fact that his arm completely wrapped in bandages that were slowly turning red, he was in good condition.

"I'm okay." Drake said. The scratches on his cheek burned like hell, but he hadn't been seriously injured.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Julie said. Drake had failed to push her hard enough, and she was a little burnt-looking on her left side, but she had avoided any other injuries.

"Okay, that's good." Matt said. "Let's go spring Flynn."

"Not so fast!" came a voice from behind them. They turned to face an intelligent fiend who was facing them with his arms crossed.

"What do you want?" Keith said.

"I want to duel you!" The fiend said, and pointed at Keith.

"Fine then, let's go!" Keith said, and activated his duel disk.

"Let's duel!"


	12. Duel at the Docks

Chapter 12- Duel at the Docks

"Let's duel!"

Keith: 4000 

**Fiend: 4000**

"So there was an intelligent fiend around here after all." Drake said.

"Of course. Didn't Keith say it was unusual for a fiend army that size to not have an intelligent fiend for a leader?" Matt said. He was rubbing an ointment on Julie's burns.

"By the way, Matt, how do you have so much stuff in that cloak?" Julie asked.

"I have my methods." Matt said. "No need to say."

"I'll go first!" Keith said. "Hmm… I set a monster in defense mode and end my turn."

"Fine then!" said the fiend, and drew a card. "Hmm… I summon my 7 Colored Fish (Water/Fish, 1800/800) in attack mode! Now, attack his facedown monster!"

"Hehe… that was Big Eye! And because you flipped him, I get to look at the top five cards of my deck and rearrange them!"

"So? I doubt you'll be able to use it!"

Keith picked out the top five cards of his deck, checked them, rearranged them, and put them back on top of the deck. "Oh yeah, and I'll play my facedown card, Michizuri, to destroy your monster!"

"Crud! I guess I'll just set a card and activate my Legendary Ocean spell card! Now, all water-attribute monsters gain an extra 200 points. That will be all."

"Okay." Keith said, and drew his card. "Yeah, just as I thought. I summon my Archfiend Soldier (Dark/Fiend, 1900/1600) in attack mode! After that, I'll attack you directly!"

"I activate the trap card Tornado Wall! As long as this card and 'Umi' are face-up on the field together, you can't hurt my life points! And since A Legendary Ocean is treated as 'Umi,' I don't take any damage from your attack!"

"Curses… I'll set one card facedown and end my turn."

"Good! That means I can take control…" The fiend drew a card. "Ha! I activate Hammer Shot! Now, the strongest monster on the field in attack mode is destroyed! So you can say goodbye to your soldier!"

Keith groaned. "Oh no…"

"And now, I summon Mother Grizzly (Water/Beast-Warrior/Effect, 1400/1000) in attack mode! And thanks to A Legendary Ocean, she gets a little boost… of two hundred points! (1600) Now, attack him directly!"

Keith: 2400 

**Fiend: 4000**

"Ha! Stop me now!" The fiend said. "I'll end my turn."

"Fine then." Keith said, and drew his card. He smiled. "Just what I need. I activate Good Goblin Housekeeping. This card allows me to draw another card, so long as I return one to the bottom of my deck." Keith drew another card and slipped one to the bottom of his deck. "Next, I'll summon La Jinn the Mystical Genie of the Lamp (Dark/Fiend, 1800/1000) in attack mode! Now, attack his Grizzly!"

"Ha! Not only does Tornado Wall prevent any damage to my life points, but also I am allowed to special summon a Water-type monster with less than 1500 attack points! So, I think I'll bring out Amphibious Bugroth MK-3 (Water/Machine/Effect, 1500/1000). He gets a little boost… (1700) and also, since 'Umi' is on the field, he can attack you directly!"

"Oh dear." Keith said. "I set a card and end my turn."

"Ha! There's no way for you to win! I already have you right where I want you!" The fiend drew his card. He smiled evilly. "And this card seals your fate! I activate Big Wave, Small Wave! This card destroys all Water-Attribute monsters on my side of the field!"

"Why would he want to destroy all of his own monsters?" Julie said.

"Because now I am allowed to Special Summon as many Water-Attribute monsters from my hand as I destroyed! So I'll special summon my Ocean Dragon Lord- Neo- Daedalus (Water/Sea Serpent/Effect, 2900/1600) from my hand!"

"Oh no!" Keith said.

"He's going to lose with that thing on the field!" Drake said.

"Now, I'll activate his special effect! When the Dragon Lord is on the field, I can send Umi to the graveyard and destroy all cards in play except for him! Now, Ocean Dragon Lord Daedalus, destroy everything!" The fiend sent his Legendary Ocean to the graveyard and Daedalus began to wreak havoc on the field.

"Before it's too late, I'll activate Waboku! Now I can't take damage this turn!" Keith said.

"It doesn't matter! You'll die next turn."

"Will I?"

"Yes! How can you win this?"

"Because I've put you right where I want you."

"Not possible!"

"Really? How is that?"

The fiend scratched his head. "I just destroyed all the cards you could have won with! How can you win?"

"Because I've been planning for a situation like this. I organized my cards in such a way that if this happened, I would win on the next turn… so watch and learn." Keith drew a card and activated it without even looking at it. "Pot of Greed! Now I can draw the two cards that will end you." He drew said cards. "I summon Theban Nightmare (Light/Fiend/Effect, 1500/500) in attack mode!"

The fiend laughed. "So? What can he do? He's only got 1500 attack points!"

Keith smiled. "Yes, but when there are no cards in my hand or in my spell zones, then he gains 1500 attack points!"

"So? There's no way you can get that card out of your hand and beat me in the same turn!"

"Is there?" Keith held up his last card and turned it around. Dark Necrofear! "I remove La Jinn, Archfiend Soldier, and the Big Eye you sent to the graveyard to special summon it! Now that that is over with, my Nightmare gains attack points! (3000)"

"So? You still can't win this turn!"

"Dark Necrofear, attack the Dragon!"

"What?!?"

Keith: 1700 

**Fiend: 4000**

"What is Keith doing?!?" Julie said. "He just threw it away!"

"Not quite. He's actually optimizing for damage at the cost of some of his life points." Matt said. "And since there are no other cards on the field, there is no risk. He's playing his cards ridiculously well."

"What did you do that for, you idiot?!?" The fiend said, and laughed again. "You just killed your own monster!"

"That I did. However…" Keith grinned. "When the Necrofear is destroyed, I can take control of one of your monster!"

"NO!"

"Yes! And now that I have two monsters with more than 2000 attack points, I can finish you! Go, Dragon Lord and Nightmare, destroy him!"

Keith: 1700 

**Fiend: 0**

The fiend exploded. "Wow, Keith, when did you learn to plan ahead like that?" Drake asked. Keith turned around.

"Doesn't matter. Come on, let's go!" He said. "We need to get Flynn out!" They all ran onto the ship that was moored in the harbor.


	13. Breakout

Chapter 13- Breakout

The inside of the ship was coated in blood. There were dead bodies every few feet. Apparently the fiends had massacred the crew when they had gotten out of the shadow realm.

"This doesn't bode well." Matt said.

" 'Doesn't bode well?' Flynn may as well be dead before us!" Keith said. "Look at all the bodies! Do you think there is even the slightest chance that they missed Flynn?"

"Yes, as he is behind metal bars and would probably have enough sense to stay out of their sight. Remember, these fiends don't have particularly good eyesight. They are mostly attracted to the smell of blood, but their senses of smell aren't great shakes either."

"How did you figure all this stuff out?" Drake asked.

"I gathered all of this data last year through observation and recorded it." He slid a PDA out of his pocket. "I keep it all in here. Pretty useful."

"I see." They turned a corner and walked down a staircase.

"Where will Flynn be anyway?" Julie asked.

"He'll probably be somewhere pretty deep down." Matt said, peering through a doorway that had been forcibly opened. "Any ideas to where he is, Bentz?"

"I think he's supposed to be held somewhere near the stern of the ship, on the third sublevel." Bentz said. "There are some stairs here, I think…" He opened a metal door. "Yeah, here's a set of stairs." They walked through the door and down the stairs. The third sublevel of the ship was dark and damp. Water was dripping from the ceiling. Pipes ran exposed on the walls. Several of them had been broken and steam was issuing from them.

"Wow, kinda creepy." Drake said.

"The fiends seem to have destroyed most of it." Keith said. Bentz took a step forward and the floor he stepped on gave. Bentz jumped back as water came splashing up through the hole in the floor.

"Yeah, I would think so." Bentz muttered. Matt stepped around the hole.

"Stay close to the walls. That's where the floor will be stronger." They walked along the walls for the length of the ship, and met a heavy, locked door.

"This has gotta be it." Keith said. "Heavy and very locked."

"How are we going to get in?" Julie asked.

"Oh, come on." Drake said. "Matt's a ninja, he's gotta know a way in." Drake turned to Matt. "Do you?"

"Yeah, of course!" Matt moved closer to the door, pulled out a small silver cylinder and pointed it at the clamp of the first lock. He pressed a button on the side of the barrel and a laser shot out of the tip and melted through the lock. He proceeded to do so with the remaining three and then stored the laser in his cloak. "I'm a high-tech ninja." He said as he did this. Keith stuck his hand in between the doors, pulled them apart, and rushed in.

There was a small bank of cells, three on each side of the little hallway. Flynn was seated in the backmost one. The moment they came in, he jumped up.

"You guys made it!" He said.

"Yeah." Keith said. "I thought you would have been killed by now."

"The fiends never got in here." Flynn said. "Despite them bringing in those stupid dog-things-"

"Shadow hounds." Bentz said.

"You named them?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. They brought those Shadow Hound things in, and then these other things that looked kind of like Despair and Fear from the Dark…what did you call those?"

"Shadows." Matt said, and sliced the lock with his laser. Flynn stepped out of the cell.

"So…what's been going on outside of this little cellblock?" He asked.

They all took turns telling him what had been going on outside, aided in part by each other. Flynn didn't interrupt. After they had finished, he sat back, scratched his chin, and though for a moment. Then he spoke.

"Okay, so what are we going to do now?" He asked.

"Well, that's open to debate." Matt said. "What should we do know?"

"That's difficult to say." Keith said. "We have no information if they've gone to the mainland yet."

"Let's assume they have." Flynn said.

"That would be rational." Matt said. There were a few scraping sounds above them.

"I think the fiends have found us." Drake said.

"Okay then, we have to plan quick. Let's go with that and assume that the fiends have gotten to the mainland." Matt said.

"That would mean that they probably have started stealing the souls of the world by now." Julie said.

"Do you think that they'll use the Vault again?" Drake said. "I left the key in the Shadow Realm; I never took it out of the door." The scraping got louder.

"Before I forget, Flynn…" Matt withdrew Flynn's rifle from his cloak. "You'll probably need this."

"Yeah." Flynn took the rifle and slung the rifle over his shoulder. "I probably will, since it sounds like they've sent an entire legion after us."

"Quickly!" Bentz said. "What are we going to do? The things are coming down the hall."

"Everyone agree that we need to go for the vault?" Matt said.

"Yeah." Everyone said in semi-unison.

"Good." Matt pulled out a kunai. "Now let's blow this peanut stand."

"I like peanuts…" Drake said.

"Haha." Julie said. "Very funny." She locked and loaded her rifle. Three more weapons were readied. The door was torn open and three Shadow Hounds came in. No one except Flynn shot, knowing that they would be unable to do anything. Matt jumped forward and shoved his fist through the frill that protected their necks, multiple kunai knives between his fingers. The Hounds went down fast.

A wave of normal fiends followed the hounds. Matt ducked and allowed the others to cut them down.

_This is too easy, _Drake thought, as the fiends fell to his deadly machine gun fire. His arm still hurt, but it was far better than when they had started. The last fiend fell in less than three minutes.

"So much for a legion." Flynn said, reloading his gun.

"Don't underestimate them." Matt said. "That might not have been all of them."

"Yeah, we need to get out of here before they figure out we're here and send a whole lot of fiends after us." Drake said. Everyone prepared themselves, and then, led by Matt, they ran out of the prison block and out into the ship's gloomy corridors.


	14. Return to the Shadow Realm

Chapter 14- Return to the Shadow Realm

They climbed the stairs to the second sublevel of the ship. Three fiends were at the end of the hallway, their backs facing the group. They seemed to be eating one of the dead sailors. Julie turned around and threw up on the stairs (_Good thing she was the last one up, _Drake thought.), which got the attention of the fiends. One of them, its mouth dripping with blood and human entrails, grinned greedily, as if expecting them to be his next meal. If he thought this, Flynn quickly corrected this misconception. He put three bullets through the fiend's skull. It readily accepted this correction and went down quickly.

"I don't remember them dying that easy to head shots." Flynn said.

"Nor do I, but it seems to be working better this time." Drake said, and shot the other two.

"They must have lost their resistance to head shots over the past year, since they weren't getting shot at all." Keith suggested.

"Just use it sparingly in case they re-develop that trait." Matt said. They stepped over the dead bodies and past the disemboweled human corpse leaning up against the wall (Julie retched but held her lunch this time) and walked up the stairs to the first sublevel.

There were no fiends here, but the bodies that had been there earlier had "magically" transformed into skeletons.

"Wow, looks like some fiends slacked off for a lunch break." Flynn said.

"Why would they want to eat humans?" Julie asked. "It's making me sick…" And indeed she was starting to regain the pale look that she had had the year before after exiting the shadow realm.

"I don't know." Matt said. "Last year they had no desire to consume human flesh or organs. It has to be a recent taste, or maybe a characteristic of their leader… something about him disliking his own race and perhaps trying to make himself of a different race."

"How the hell would he do that?" Keith said. "How would you alter yourself like that?"

"Keith, I've been all around this rock, been in a lot of places, seen a lot of crazy things. And believe me, there's a way. Not a way that I know or would try, but there's a way."

"That's not a good thought…" Drake said.

"No, it's actually rather disturbing." Bentz said. "If they found that out in science, study would probably be banned due to the ethics of it." They climbed out of the ship and onto the decks. The sun had risen high in the sky by now.

"Hey, wait a minute." Keith said. "Aren't they supposed to burn up in sunlight?"

"Yeah, last year Keith survived because he burned one with a desk lamp. You'd think that they would die in sunlight, too." Flynn said.

"This is a troublesome development." Matt said. "Now they no longer need the humans, so they eat us. Just fabulous."

"Oh yeah." They climbed off the ship and onto the docks.

"And now to begin the long walk back!" Drake said. "Back along the path to the Arches!"

"Sounds like a bunch of fun!" Julie said. And so, they began along the path back towards the academy main building, from which they could access the arches and the gates to the shadow realm.

As they walked Drake kept nervously checking his watch. The more time they wasted in transit, the less time they had before Matt died. He didn't know exactly what time Matt's disease had gone active, but he could guess. By his guesses, Matt had a little over 40 hours left to live.

_Forty hours,_ Drake thought. _It sounds like so long, and yet for him, it seems like a ridiculously short amount of time. _Julie noticed his preoccupation with the time.

"Are you worried about Matt?" She asked.

"Yeah…" He said. "I thought he would be able to guide us forever. I mean, he survived all of that last year, bailed us out this year when we were about to die, and all of a sudden we're going to be deprived of his leadership."

A tear leaked out of the corner of Julie's eye. She wiped it away, but not before Drake noticed. He knew that she harbored a secret affection for Matt, but she had never admitted it to anyone but Drake. "Yeah, it doesn't seem fair… he's such a nice person, and yet the Egyptian government wants him dead, so he has to live alone and out of touch with society. He's a courageous and intelligent person, but he has to die before his time. It's too bad…"

"What are you guys talking about?" Flynn asked. "You look like you've been invited to a funeral for your best friend."

"Well, in a sense, we have." Drake said.

"What do you mean?"

"Does this involve a certain aspect of my condition?" Matt said.

"Yes."

"Which one?"

"The recent one."

"Proceed. That's on need-to-know basis, but he needs to know."

"I'm lost. That's what I get for being arrested." Flynn said. "Tell me, what's going on? What's wrong with Matt?" His troubled look suggested that he was guessing right.

"Well, before we rescued you, Matt was dueling, and he experienced pain in his heart-"

"Isn't that natural for a Shadow Game? I am, of course, assuming that he was in one at the time."

"Yes, but this wasn't caused by the game."

"Go on."

"It turns out that Matt has some kind of terminal heart disease that's so rare that it doesn't even have a name. He's supposed to die 48 hours from the activation of it."

Flynn was silent. He seemed to think about it for a moment, then spoke again. "How… much longer does he have?" He had trouble keeping his voice from quavering.

"I would guess that he's got about 40 hours left." Drake said.

"Actually, I have exactly 39 hours, 47 minutes, and 29 seconds left, but who's counting?" Matt said.

"How do you keep track of that?" Julie said, surprised.

Matt laughed, a laugh that turned quickly into a hacking cough. His hand moved slowly to his heart. "The disease keeps telling me."

"That is one strange disease." Bentz said.

"Yes, quite. I was told it shouldn't affect me until it kills me, but…" He grimaced, and the hand at his heart tightened its grip. "…that does not seem to be the case." They passed the airstrip. The lack of fiends was starting to unnerve Drake.

"Why aren't there any fiends?" Drake asked.

"Maybe they sent them elsewhere." Keith suggested.

"Perhaps they decided that we were no longer worth attacking." Flynn said.

"I don't think so." Matt said. "It's just that… when we passed this way earlier, I set a large amount of traps around here. They're all hanging from the trees in various states of impalement."

A drop of some black liquid hit Drake in the shoulder. He looked up, and, sure enough, a fiend was hanging from the tree with a large amount of kunai in its body. "How many of those things do you carry?" He asked. "From what I've seen, it's an irrational number."

"It is an irrational number. But remember that I trained with ninjas. They have better storage methods than you common people." Matt said.

"I'm not even going to question that." Drake said. They walked for another five minutes and made it to the arches.

"And so here we are again, at the climax of some grand adventure, waiting to plunge into enemy territory." Flynn said, staring at the glowing portal.

"I have a bad feeling about this…" Matt said.

"Should that stop us?"

"No. Proceed." Everyone took a step forward, through the portal, and entered the Shadow Realm.


	15. A Heated Duel

Chapter 15- A Heated Duel

Drake didn't remember falling asleep or losing consciousness, but he woke up. He sat up and looked around. He was in the middle of a dark room, so dark that he couldn't see farther than a foot in front of him.

"Guys?" He said. "Did you guys make it okay?" There was silence. "Uh, guys?"

"They're not hear, you fool!" came a voice. Drake spun around, but of course since it was so dark he didn't see anything.

Light gradually flowed into the room. A large amount of candles had been lit all at the same time. A fiend was standing in the center of the room. Light was reflected off of the many silver plates on the walls. Drake wondered whether they were just decoration or if they served a much more sinister purpose. The fiend was smiling in a way he didn't like.

"What have you done with my friends?" Drake demanded of the fiend. He continued his evil smile.

"I didn't do anything with them!" The fiend said.

"You liar… how can you not have?"

"When you fools stepped through the gate, you were all separated throughout this realm, so that you would be easy pickings for us! We know that you are worthless isolated! So now we can pick you off, one by one! And you'll be the first!"

"Oh no…" Drake's thoughts immediately went to Julie and Bentz. Bentz was, after all, defenseless in this place without one of them around, and Julie… well, there was no point in lying to himself. He liked her. A lot. And not just as a friend.

"Yes, and now let us begin the duel!" The fiend activated his duel disk.

"Yes, let's!" Drake said. _The sooner I beat this guy down, the sooner I can go and help my friends! I'm not too worried about Flynn or Matt, especially not Matt, and even Keith, but Julie and Bentz… I don't know if they'll be able to handle this place._

"Let's duel!"

Drake: 4000 

**Fiend: 4000**

"I'll go first!" The fiend said. "And before I start my turn, allow me to explain the game here!"

"Let me guess… a new twist on the usual shadow game?" Drake said.

"Sort of." The fiend smiled evilly. There was a mechanical sound and Drake felt something clamp around his ankles. He looked down and saw that his ankles had been clamped in metal shackles that had jumped out of the ground.

"Hey!" Drake said, and tried to pull himself out. It was no use; the clamps were too tight and he couldn't get his foot through them. He couldn't even move his leg. "What are these for?"

"Don't worry yourself. I have them too." Said the fiend. And indeed he did. "Now, let me explain… the shackles are obviously to keep us from running. Now, when someone's life points are reduced, a timer drops a little. As a matter of fact, it will drop to a number equal to the number of life points the losing played has. When someone's life points hit zero, a fireproof box, sorta of like your human phone booths, will come up and surround the winner. Then, this room will explode. You see all of the silver plates around this room? Each is a powerful explosive, capable of burning anything into a tiny pile of ashes.

"Now, while that being is going to be nice and cozy in the heat-protection, the other will be waiting for their imminent destruction. After the box has sealed over the winner, the bombs will go off and fill this room with fire, thus burning the loser alive! AHAHAHA!"

"That's sick." Drake said. "What happens after that?"

"Well, obviously the winner will be released and go on their merry way." The fiend said. "Not like that matters to you, as you will have burnt alive by the time this duel is over!"

"Make your move."

"Fine!' The fiend drew a card. "I set a monster in defense mode and end my turn."

"Good! That means I can get right to work on defeating you." Drake said, and drew a card. "Let's see… I'll summon Familiar Possessed- Hiita (Fire/Spellcaster/Effect, 1850/1500) in attack mode! Hiita, attack his monster!"

"Ha! That was my UFO Turtle! And when he's destroyed in battle, I can special summon one Fire-Attribute monster with 1500 attack points or less! And so, I'll special summon Fox Fire (Fire/Pyro/Effect, 300/200) in attack mode!"

"So? He's no threat."

"He's not meant to be."

"I know that. I end my turn."

"And I begin mine!" The fiend drew a card. He smiled that evil smile that seemed common place amongst the intelligent fiends. "I summon Gaia Soul the Combustible Collective (Fire/Pyro/Effect, 2000/0) in attack mode! Now, since he's combustible, he'll be destroyed at the end of the turn, but not before he does substantial damage to your life points! By sacrificing my Fox Fire, I can give him an extra 1000 attack points (3000)!"

"No!"

"Gaia, destroy Hiita!"

Drake: 2850 

**Fiend: 4000**

"Hehehe… that was too easy. You're a pathetic duelist!"

"Who are you kidding? You just left yourself open for my damage!"

"No I didn't! For now I set two cards and end my turn."

"Fine then!" Drake drew a card. _Okay, those facedown cards present a problem. Should I just charge in or play it safe? Let's see… here. Yeah, this should do._ "I summon my Getsu Fuhma (Dark/Warrior/Effect, 1700/1200) in attack mode! Now, attack him directly!"

"I activate my Trap card, Call of the Haunted! Now, I'll use it to bring back UFO Turtle (Fire/Machine/Effect, 1400/1200) in attack mode!"

"And I'll cut it in half!"

"And because you did that, I'll use its special effect again- and special summon Little Chimera (Fire/Beast/Effect, 600/500) in attack mode!"

"I know what you're trying to do with that. It won't work."

"Will it now? Its effect gives all Fire-attribute monsters an extra 500 attack points, and decreases all Water-attribute monsters by 400. So it gives itself a boost to 1100…"

"So? It can't take down my front line. I set a card and end my turn."

"I activate my other facedown, Dust Tornado! With this, your facedown is no more!"

"Curses…"

"And now, it is my turn." The fiend drew, then smiled evilly. "This is it! You will not survive much longer. I summon Blazing Inpachi (Fire/Pyro, 1850/0) in attack mode! His arrival signals your doom, for your Getsu Fuhma stands no chance against him! And thanks to the Little Chimera, the attack will be 500 points stronger! (2350) Now, Blazing Inpachi, destroy that fool's monster!"

Drake:2250 

**Fiend: 4000**

"And now Little Chimera, attack directly!"

Drake: 1150 

**Fiend: 4000**

"Ha! I'm done. How do you plan on getting out of this?"

"Ow… oh, don't worry, I'll get out of this." Drake said. _Easier said than done, _he thought. _The only monster in can use in my hand is Familiar Possessed- Eria,_ _the only Water-Attribute moster in my entire deck! Not to mention that the only Fire-Attribute monster in my deck is in my Graveyard. Figures… guess I'll have to stake everything on this card…_ Drake drew his card. _Hmm… not much. But it's a start._ "I set a monster in defense mode! Then, I set a card and end my turn."

"It won't save you!" The fiend said, and drew. "I sacrifice both of my monsters and summon the Infernal Flame Emperor (Fire/Pyro/Effect, 2700/1600) in attack mode!"

"Not him!" Drake groaned. "He's the only thing that could have stopped me!"

"I know! And now I will remove Fox Fire from my graveyard to activate his special ability! When the Emperor is summoned, I remove up to five Fire-Attribute monsters in my graveyard from play to destroy an equal number of spell or trap cards on the field! So, your card is gone!"

"I'll just play it, Dust Tornado!"

"You can't! There aren't any cards to destroy!"

"I use Dust Tornado to target… itself!"

"Of course…"

"And now, I'll use it to set a card."

"It doesn't matter! Now, Emperor, destroy his monster! You're finished!"

"Oh, quite the contrary." Drake said under his breath. "You just destroyed my Apprentice Magician! When it's destroyed, I'm allowed to special summon a level two or lower spellcaster type monster from my deck in face-down defense mode."

"Ha! That won't save you!"

"Will it?" Drake extracted a card from his deck and held it up, back facing the fiend. Then he turned it around.

"Is that Old Vindictive Magician?" The fiend said, a note of panic in his voice.

"Oh, good, you recognize the monster that will kill you. Actually, he won't." Drake drew a card. "This guy will. I flip summon the Magician. When he's flipped, I get to destroy any monster on the field! That means that I get to destroy one monster on the field! Your Emperor is no more."

"No! He was my only monster!"

"Right! And now, I'll sacrifice my Magician for the Magical Marionette (Dark/Spellcaster/Effect, 2000/1000) in attack mode!"

"So? I can still come back next turn!"

"Really? You think so? Then you don't know the identity of my facedown card."

"No… it isn't…"

"It is! Marionette, attack! And when he does, I can activate this card, Magician's Circle! When a spellcaster attacks, I can use it! Now we are both allowed to special summon one spellcaster-type monster with no more than 2000 attack points to the field from our decks! But I'm going to guess that you don't have any…"

"I don't! You jerk!"

"Ha! That's funny. I'll use Magician's Circle to special summon the Dark Magician Girl (Dark/Spellcaster/Effect, 2000/1700) in attack mode! And that's enough cards to kill you right now! Go, attack and destroy him my monsters!"

Drake: 1150 

**Fiend: 0**

Thick red barriers slid out of the ground and surrounded Drake. A red ceiling slid in over his head. Outside his little box he could hear the fiend panicking and trying to rip off the shackles. Then there was a terrible explosion. Drake may have been surrounded by fireproof walls, but he could feel the terrible heat pressing in on him, stifling him, making the air heavy around him. Then it was over. He noticed a key, burned black, hanging in front of his face. He grabbed it and used it to free himself from the shackles. The box receded.

The fiend had been burned into a small black puddle on the ground- not even ashes were left, just a puddle of liquid. The shackles were unharmed.

"Pretty durable, those things." Drake said aloud. "Okay, now that that's over with… I need to find the others!" He readied himself and set off into the Shadow Realm.


	16. Desolated

Chapter 16- Desolated

Julie woke up, much like Drake, never remembering falling unconscious. She was in a moderately lit room, facing a stone wall. The wall was streaked with blood.

_Where am I?_ She thought. _I don't remember this place. And why is there blood on the wall?_

_Why else? Something died in here, stupid!_ Said that annoying little voice that usually pestered her.

_Shut up, _she told the voice. "Hey, guys, where are we?" There was no answer. Julie sat up and looked around. She was alone.

Julie nearly panicked. Without the others, she was probably as good as a sitting duck. If it hadn't been for Matt, she never would have made it out of the Shadow Realm alive. And without the others to protect her, she was going to have to be careful. Despite the fact that they were inhuman beasts, Julie hated killing the fiends. She had always been sensitive to the sanctity of life, and killing anything made her a little sick.

_You're as good as dead, _said the little voice. Julie called it her inner unconfidence. It never was too positive about her skill at anything.

_No I'm not!_ She asserted. Prior to meeting the others, she had been a weak girl with no confidence. The voice had developed as a result of this. Whenever she tried to do something with any degree of difficulty, the voice was there to tell her no.

_Whatever you like, _the voice said. _Just don't come back crying after you fail without your friends._

"I won't!" Julie said aloud. She stood up and turned around. Then she turned back around and almost threw up. One of the school's security guards had been impaled on a bed of spikes behind her, and was lying dead in a pool of blood. The spikes had disfigured his face, and his body was twitching. Julie turned again, saw the dead guard again, and turned back.

_Ugh…_ Julie thought. _That's so disturbing… how do the fiends do this?How do Drake and them put up with this? How does Matt _enjoy_ this?_ Despite really liking him, she could never understand why he would enjoy the blood and gore of death.

_I told you that you were worthless without your friends._ The inner unconfidence said. _Just give up and wait until the find you._

_No! I gotta do my part and get to them! _Julie thought. She closed her eyes, turned around, and walked past the dead man. She reached a wooden door, opened it up, and exited the room.

She had been dropped into the middle of the torture cells that they had seen last year. The occupants had changed, but the sight was the same. Blood everywhere, bodies lying twitching on the ground, organs scattered across the ground. Julie tried to ignore it, but was unable. Every scene of pain brought tears to her eyes, and every dead body caused her some pain of her own.

She finally collapsed near the end of the hall, stricken with grief. _That's it, I can't do this…_ she thought. _I guess I'll just have to wait here until they find me…or die here, alone…_

And at that moment, she thought of the others. And something Matt had said last year came back… he had said it while they were relaxing one day, practicing duel tactics. She couldn't remember the situation, but he had told her, "One thing I've found… if you have no confidence in your abilities, no matter how great they actually are, you will amount to nothing. No matter what you do… without self-confidence, you will be no one."

Julie couldn't remember anything else from that, but for some reason that comment had stuck. Maybe it was because the inner unconfidence disagreed with it and held her back on that account. But it also rang true… at least to her.

Julie stood up, empowered by the thought of seeing her friends. _Now, where could they be? _She thought. _Perhaps we'll be able to meet at the central room… I remember that it was down this hall…_ She took a step down the hall, but halted when she heard footsteps. _Fiends!_ She ducked into one of the side rooms, pointedly ignoring the remains of a former human.

A column of fiends walked down the hallway and stopped. "Okay, he said that she would be here. Now, remember… we're not to harm her. Take her alive at all costs. You know why… check the side rooms." The fiends dispersed to check the torture chambers, four fiends to each room.

_What were they talking about? Why would they need me? Oh, wait, they're coming! I have to do something…_ Julie ran into the corner of the room, readied her rifle, and waited.

The fiends must have been searching very methodically, because it was nearly fifteen minutes before the door of Julie's room opened. The fiends came inside in a square-like formation, each fiend facing a different direction. It didn't take long for the fiend to spot Julie.

"There she-" He began, but never got the last few words out because Julie shot him. The other fiends turned and began to shout for assistance, and Julie kept shooting. She knew that there was little chance for them to get close if they didn't want to harm her for some reason. The first squad went down without much trouble, and Julie reloaded quickly.

More fiends burst through the door. Some of them were holding what looked like stun guns. Julie took these down first. The fiends kept spilling in through the door, and Julie kept shouting, stuck with her back in the corner. One of the fiends got close and took a swipe at her. She pulled back as far as she could. The fiend's hand passed through her arm.

Julie was almost dumbstruck when she saw it, but then pain exploded in her elbow and she nearly lost herself. She gritted her teeth against the pain and kept shooting, taking down the fiend who had taken a swipe at her. There was no blood flowing from her arm, even though there should have been; there were no marks, even though they should have been a foot long. Julie kept blasting and the fiends kept coming.

Reloading was the worst. She had to somehow keep the fiends at bay, pop out the old clip, and insert a new one. She managed it twice, and fortunately that was all she needed. The fiends finally stopped coming.

_I need to find the others, and fast. _She thought. _Without them, I'm vulnerable._

_I told you!_ The inner unconfidence said.

_Just shut up._ Julie reloaded for safety and left her little room, stepping over the fiend bodies that now littered the ground. _Let's see… this way. _She turned down the hall and started to run. She didn't know why, but she had this feeling of urgency. She felt that if she didn't move fast enough, she wouldn't be able to find them.

She rounded the corner and into a large empty room filled almost to the roof with dead bodies, mutilated dead bodies, some just shells without organs, most of them missing limbs, all still bleeding, some twitching, all of them bearing faces contorted in pain. Men, women, even children. All destroyed.

Julie broke down. The wall that had been holding back the sadness shattered, and she fell to the ground, sobbing.

_This is too much… this is just… horrible… how could they kill all of these people?_ She thought.

Her thoughts didn't continue much farther. Something snuck up behind her, wacked her hard over the head, and she fell facedown on the ground, unconcious.


	17. Not As Seen on TV

Chapter 17- Not as Seen on T.V.

Keith found himself in a strangely bright room.

_Is this really part of the Shadow Realm, _he thought, _or did I get separated from the others?_ He stood up and looked around, then gaped at what he saw.

He was standing in what looked like a set for a game show, complete with flashing lights. There was a set of what looked like contestant stands from _The Price is Right_ off to one side. One of the walls had what looked like the board from _Family Feud_ placed in it. And the huge wheel from _Wheel of Fortune_ was right in front of him.

_What the hell? I must not be in the Shadow Realm…_ Keith thought. _I need to find a way out of here!_ He began to search for a door. There were a lot of them, but they were all the of the large, sliding variety that the game show hosts usually hid the prizes behind. Keith kicked one in disgust.

_This is pointless, _he thought. _But there's gotta be a way out, and I'm going to find it. _

"Don't bother looking! You won't find a way out until you defeat me!" came a voice. Keith turned around and nearly died laughing.

One of the fiends was standing on the top of a set of stairs that looked like it would be the place that the host of the show would emerge from. Keith had laughed because the fiend looked absolutely ridiculous. He was dressed in what looked like the fiend equivalent of a suit and tie, and it made him look like a complete fool. Keith could barely stand.

"What are you laughing at?!?" The fiend shouted.

"Look at yourself! You look stupid!" Keith said.

"No I don't!" said the fiend. "You arrogant twerp, I'll kill you!"

"How?"

"In my Shadow Game!"

"Oh great. Are we actually in the Shadow Realm?"

"Yes! I created this room to duel you in and destroy you! And you are no match for my deck!"

"Somehow I doubt that." Keith activated his duel disk. "You ready?"

"I'm always ready to beat down on fools." The fiend responded, and activated his duel disk.

"Let's duel!"

Keith: 4000 

**Suit Fiend: 4000**

"I'll lead off." Keith said. He drew a card. "I set one monster in defense mode, and it'll be accompanied by an equal number of facedown cards. That's all."

"Ha! Is that all?" The fiend drew a card. "I summon Jirai Gumo (Earth/Insect/Effect, 2200/100) in attack mode! When he attacks, I'm forced to flip a coin! If I call it right, his attack goes through normally! Else, I must pay half my life points to attack! But wait! I activate Second Coin Toss! While activate, I can negate any coin toss and redo it, once per turn! Now, Jirai Gumo, attack his monster!"

"Flip your coin."

"I will!" The fiend procured a coin from a pocket in his jacket. He flipped it into the air. "Tails!" He caught it, flipped it onto the back of his hand, and checked it. "Oooo, too bad. Heads. Good thing I can flip again!" He tossed the coin again. "Tails!" Hr caught it and checked it again. "What do you know? It's tails! Jirai Gumo, commence attack!"

"You've attacked Kisetai! When it's attacked in facedown defense mode, it equips itself to the attacking monster and gives me life points equal to half of your monster's attack points during your standby phase."

"Fine then! I set a card facedown and end my turn."

"My turn!" Keith drew a card. _Hmm… Jirai Gumo. Usually only insect users use him, but something tells me this guy doesn't use insects. Maybe he's running a gamble deck… I'll plan accordingly. This guy will help._ "I set a monster in defense mode and end my turn."

"Fine then!" The fiend drew a card.

"Now I gain life points equal to half of Gumo's attack points! That's 1100!"

Keith: 5100 

**Suit Fiend: 4000**

"It doesn't matter! All of those life points won't save you! I summon Abare Ushioni (Earth/Beast-warrior/Effect, 1200/1200) in attack mode! When he's on the field, every turn I can flip a coin and call it! If I'm right, you lose 1000 life points! And just to make sure it works… I activate another Second Coin Toss! Now, I'll activate Abare Ushioni's effect!" The fiend flipped the coin. "Heads!" He caught it and checked it. "Ha! Luck is on my side! Heads! You lose 1000 life points!"

Keith: 4100 

**Suit Fiend: 4000**

Keith groaned. "Ow, that kind of hurt. I assume this is just a normal game?"

"Of course not! Of course, standard Shadow Game rules apply, but there will be a new twist! The loser will fall into a pit filled with giant game show wheels, and ground into tiny pieces! I wonder how long it will take for you to die…"

"Sickening." Keith said. "But I won't be the one to die here." _I can't let die and abandon the others._

"Ha! Allow me to prove you wrong! Now, Jirai Gumo, attack his monster!"

"First you have to flip a coin."

"Ha! Is there even a point? Thanks to Second Coin Toss, I will almost always get it right! But hey, if you insist…" The fiend flipped the coin and caught it. "Tails!" He checked the coin. "Hm. Not quite right! Let me try this again." The fiend flipped the coin and caught it again. "Heads." He checked it. "Heh. As I suspected! Heads. Jirai Gumo, commence attack!"

"Hehe. That was Old Vindictive Magician! And when he's flipped, I can destroy any monster on the field. Jirai Gumo is no more!"

"So what? Abare Ushioni can still attack!"

"Not really, because I now activate Michizuri! With it, I can destroy another monster when a monster is destroyed. So, Abare Ushioni is destroyed!"

"No!"

"Hehe."

"I'm done…"

"Good! Then let the killing begin." Keith drew a card. "Okay. This should work. I summon La Jinn the Mystical Genie (Dark/Fiend, 1800/1000) in attack mode! Now he'll attack you directly!"

"I activate my Trap Card, Ordeal of a Traveler! Now, whenever you attack, you must choose a card in my hand and guess its type! If you call it right, then you can proceed. But if you call it wrong, then your monster gets bounced back to your hand!"

"So what?" Keith said. "I know almost exactly what you have."

"Not possible!"

"All the cards in your hand are monsters."

"What?!? How did you…?"

"Your deck is a gamble deck. Whenever you draw a spell card, you'll use it. Whenever you draw a trap, you'll set it. The only limit you have is monsters… and so every card in your hand ends up being a monster!"

"No!"

"La Jinn, attack!"

Keith: 4100 

**Suit Fiend: 2200**

"Curse you…"

"If you don't like that, get ready to curse some more. Let's see… I'll win in three turns, on your turn. I guarantee it. I set a card and I'm done."

"Don't make guarantees you can't keep!" The fiend drew a card. "Especially with this card! I activate Reasoning!"

"Hmm. An interesting card."

"Call a monster level!"

"Let's see… how about 7."

"Ha!" The fiend picked up the top card of his deck and smiled. "Ha! A level 7 monster! And you know what that means! I'm allowed to special summon it! Go, Slot Machine (Dark/Machine, 2000/2300) in attack mode!"

"That's a rather pathetic monster."

"Not compared to yours! I'll crush that monster and walk all over you! I set another monster and attack La Jinn!"

Keith: 3900 

**Suit Fiend: 2200**

"Ha! While I have the Slot Machine, your chances of winning are as high as getting straight 7's in a casino!"

"Actually, they are much better than that." Keith said, and drew his card. "You're right where I want you. Your Ordeal is no threat, because you used the only Spell card you had. Your facedown monster is undoubtedly some kind of gamble card, something really risky. So, I'll summon Malice Doll of Demise (Dark/Fiend/Effect, 1600/1700) in attack mode, and then I'll activate Dark Energy. This card gives him an extra 300 points."

"So? He's no match for Slot Machine!"

"I'm not targeting your Slot Machine. Malice Doll, attack his facedown monster!"

"Haha! Kyruel! When he's destroyed, I get to flip a coin! If I cal it right, I can destroy a monster! Heads!" The fiend flipped the coin and caught it. "Nope. Not quite right! Guess I'll have to flip again." He flipped the coin again and caught it. "Heads!" He checked and gaped. "WHAT?!? TAILS???"

"I knew that you couldn't keep winning at that." Keith said. "The approximate chance of correctly calling a coin is 50, but that does not mean you will always be right in two tries."

"NO! But it doesn't matter! Next turn, I'll summon another monster and destroy you!"

"No you won't apart from the Slot Machine, you have very few strong monsters. I end my turn."

"Fine then!" The fiend drew a card. Ha! This'll crush you. I summon Time Wizard (Light/Spellcaster/Effect, 500/400) in attack mode! And now, I'll use his effect! By calling a coin right, I can destroy all of your monsters! If I call it wrong, all my monsters are gone! But I don't think I'll lose twice in a row." He flipped his coin. "Heads!" He caught it. "Ha! Don't even have to flip again! Heads! All of your monsters are gone!"

"So? You don't have nearly enough power."

"Not yet, but now I activate Question! What's the bottom monster in my graveyard? If your wrong, I get to summon it!"

"It's Jirai Gumo. Don't insult me with such trivial matters."

"How could you…? No one ever remembers that kind of stuff!"

Keith smiled. "Last year most people considered me a lucksacker. But over the last year, I've started noticing and remembering every played card… I can guess at almost anything, and know even more than that. You haven't got a chance with all these luck based cards."

"Shut up! Time Wizard and Slot Machine, attack directly!"

Keith:1400 Suit Fiend: 2200 

"Now you can't win! I end my turn."

"On the contrary, I have you right where I want you." Keith drew a card. "Yep. I don't even need this card. I summon my second La Jinn the Mystical Genie of the Lamp (Dark/Fiend, 1800/1000) in attack mode! And your Time Wizard is now very vulnerable… attack!"

"I activate my Ordeal!"

"They're still all monsters."

"No!"

Keith: 1400 

**Suit Fiend: 900**

"I'll crush you!"

"Maybe. But I doubt it. I end my turn."

"Grr…" The fiend drew a card. "I summon another Abare Ushioni! Slot Machine, crush his La Jinn!"

"Ha. You fool. You should have used the bull's effect first… but now you lose."

"What?!?"

"I activate my Trap, Bark of Dark Ruler. Now I'll pay life points to reduce the attack of your monster by increments of 100! So, I can pay 1100 life points…"

Keith: 300 

**Suit Fiend: 900**

"…to reduce your monster's attack points to 900."

"No! But that means I lose!"

"Exactly."

Keith: 300 

**Suit Fiend: 0**

The fiend screamed in terror as the floor beneath him opened up. He fell screaming into the new pit and continued until the giant wheels below had ground him into fine powder. Keith walked over to the edge of the pit and looked down.

"And now, I must be off." Keith said. "By your leave." Keith smiled and walked away, through the door the fiend had come out of originally. He guessed that he would find the others through there somewhere. It was one guess he hoped he was not wrong on.


	18. Quality Over Quantity

Chapter 18- Quality over Quantity

Flynn scratched his chin. He couldn't understand how he had been separated from the others. If the trip had knocked him unconscious, they would have waited for him to come around, or at least have hauled him along until he had come to. And if there was a problem with the gate, wouldn't Matt have known?

_This is troubling,_ Flynn thought. _If we're getting into the realm of the unknown, where even Matt doesn't have any prior knowledge of anything, then we're in trouble. We only survived last year on his knowledge. Without it, there'll be more than just bloodshed this year, there'll be deaths. And with the way things are going, Julie will be the first to go._

And if that happens, Drake is likely to break down. I know that he's… very attached to Julie, and if she dies, he'll be worse than useless. He'll be a burden.

Flynn stood up and looked in front of him. There was a long stony passage before him. It wasn't lit, and Flynn could barely see a foot in front of him.

_They don't seem to like well-lit corridors in this place, _Flynn thought. He smiled in spite of his situation. _Well, no where else to go._ He took a step forward and entered the passage.

It became quite clear as he walked (and ran into a lot of walls) that the passage wasn't quite straight. In fact, it was almost like a labyrinth. With every step Flynn grew more and more uneasy. Flynn turned a corner. He felt the prickle of the hairs on the back of his neck standing up and spun around.

He could barely make it out, but he thought he saw the dark shape of a fiend dart back around the corner. Flynn peeked out around the corner and quickly withdrew as a bullet hit the wall near his hand.

_So there's fiends in this labyrinth, _Flynn thought, and readied his rifle. _Well, that's not too bad. I would be more worried about a shadow… there would be no way to see it!_ Flynn whipped out from behind the wall and fired at random down the hall. The muzzle flashes from his rifle lit up the corridor. He saw the fiend go down in a hail of bullets. Behind the first he saw a second take cover around a corner. Flynn ducked back around the corner as the second began to fire from his cover.

_This isn't good. _Flynn said. _I'll bet he can see perfectly in this darkness, but I can't see a thing!_ Bullets continued to fly down the hall. Flynn pushed up against the wall with his back. He pointed his gun around the corner and fired blindly. The fiend's gunshots stopped. Flynn pulled back and reloaded his gun. _If I keep this up, that guy will call in some reinforcements, and I'll be overrun! At this point, it's easier to run… but that might be the only way to the exit. Oh well._ Flynn stood up and ran down the hall, away from the fiend. It didn't take long for him to run into a wall.

_SHIT!!!_ He thought. _I'M SCREWED!!!_ He turned as he heard the sounds of footsteps. The fiends had him cornered now, and he had no cover this time. Flynn dropped to the ground as the fiends opened fire, rolled off to the side, and returned fire.

Fortunately for him, Matt hadn't called them unintelligent fiends for no reason. The one fiend that had remained had been too stupid to call in reinforcements, and Flynn cut him down without much trouble. Flynn stood when the bullets stopped flying.

_I need to get moving, _he thought. _If I don't I'll be Swiss cheese in a very short time. But without any light or any idea of where I'm going, I'm at an extreme disadvantage. Hmm…_ Flynn thought for a moment, then hit the wall next to him in frustration. The wall fell over and light flooded into the passage. Flynn blinked, temporarily blinded by the sudden flash of light, then stepped out into the light.

There were two fiends standing back to back and looking at Flynn in a way that Flynn didn't like. They were smiling evilly.

"So, you have made it out of our maze." Said one.

"You are good, but you won't walk away unfazed!" said the other.

Flynn frowned. _Hmm… where have I seen this before? I don't like it._ "What do you want?"

"You must be a fool!" said one of the fiends.

"Of course, we want a duel!" said the other.

"Fine then." Said Flynn. "I'll start with you!" He pointed at the first fiend.

"No no no. You are smart, but that is not right." Said the first.

"You will be against us both, in this fight!" said the second.

"Very well then! I'll crush you both." Flynn said

"Let's duel!"

Flynn: 4000 

**First Fiend: 4000**

**Second Fiend: 4000**

"Ha! You are without a team…" said the first.

"In this duel, you will be creamed!" said the second. "I will go first!" He drew a card. "With this card in the fold, you will be destroyed! I will start with a strong android."

_This rhyming is going to drive me up a wall…_

"I play the Polymerization card! And with it, I can fuse these two to form a greater beast than any! I fuse my Giga-Tech Wolf and Cannon Soldier to form the mighty Labyrinth Tank (Dark/Machine/Fusion, 2400/2400)! With him in the fold, your future looks dank!"

"Just shut up and let me go. You done?" Flynn said. The fiend nodded. "My turn then." Flynn drew a card. "Perfect. I summon the Luster Dragon (Wind/Dragon, 1900/1600) in attack mode and set a card. That's all."

"Ha! We will not fall into your trap." Said the first fiend.

"We are much too intelligent for that!" said the second.

The first fiend drew a card. "Ha! Your future grows grim! For the Kaiser Sea Horse (Light/Sea Serpent/Effect, 1700/1600), I summon him! Then, I set one!" He turned to the other fiend. "Crushing this fool will be fun!"

"That it will be!" The first fiend drew a card. He smiled and looked up at Flynn. "And this card will destroy thee! I sacrifice my partner's Kaiser Sea Horse to summon the Sanga of the Thunder (Light/Thunder/Effect, 2600/2200)! His awesome might will tear your life points asunder! Now, Sanga of the Thunder, tear apart his pathetic monster!"

"I activate my trap card, Negate Attack! This turn, you are not allowed to attack!" Flynn said.

"Your delay is in vain! The next turn will be your bain!" The fiend said.

"You done? Good." Flynn drew a card. _Hmm… he's left his friend wide open, but I have no doubt that the other will defend him. Sure, I can summon a monster that's stronger than Sanga, but then he'll just use his special ability to deflect the attack. So, I'll have to aim for destroying it with an effect._ "Okay, I summon my Lord of Dragons (Dark/Spellcaster/Effect, 1200/1100) in attack mode! Then I activate my Flute of Summoning Dragon! With this, I'll summon two Blue-Eyes White Dragons (Light/Dragon, 3000/2500) in attack mode!"

"Even with your mighty dragons, you will not win!" The first fiend said.

"We will toss you pathetic cards into the bin!" The second fiend said.

"Oh, shut up with your pathetic rhyming. Now, Blue-Eyes White Dragon, attack his Labyrinth Tank!"

Flynn: 4000 

**First Fiend: 3400**

**Second Fiend: 4000**

"And now, I'll set a card facedown and end my turn."

"What, too scared that we will block your attack?" said the first.

"You will not win the duel like that!" said the second. "And now it is my turn." He drew a card. "Aha! The end is near! This card will increase your fear! I summon my Whirlwind Prodigy (Wind/Fairy/Effect, 1500/1600) in attack mode! But he will not be around for long, for I activate Tribute Doll! With this, you will fall! I can summon a level 7 monster with one tribute. And the one I summon, he will contribute! I summon Kazejin (Wind/Spellcaster/Effect, 2400/2200) in attack mode! For you, well this does not bode!"

"So, are you going to attack or not?" Flynn said.

"What do you think I am a fool? Attacking right now would not be cool! I will end my turn, and soon end your life!" the second fiend said.

"You are a fool. It doesn't matter if you attack! I don't have anything anyway." Flynn said.

"Ha! You twit! It was my turn, I'll put you at your last wit!" said the first fiend, and drew his card. He grinned evilly. "This is it! The game is up! With this card, you will be stuck! I summon my Unshaven Angler (Water/Fish/Effect, 1500/1600) in attack mode! And after that, I will activate my own Tribute Doll, and sacrifice him to special summon the almighty Suijin (Water/Aqua/Effect, 2500/2400)!"

_Oh no!_ Flynn thought. _That makes the Gate Guardian!_

"And now!" said both of the fiends. "Element of Thunder, Water and Wind, Suijin, Sanga, Kazejin, begin! Meld your powers in eternal light, show this fool your unstoppable might! GATE GUARDIAN (DARK/WARRIOR/EFFECT, 3750/3400)!"

"Oh no!" Flynn said. "That thing is going to run roughshod over my monsters!"

"That's right!" said the first fiend. "He will destroy you! Gate Guardian, attack his Lord of Dragons now!"

"Ha! You fell right into my trap!" Flynn said.

"What are you talking about?" said the second fiend.

"You said that surviving this attack was in doubt!!!" said the first.

"Oh come on, do you think I would have actually said that if it was true?" said Flynn. "And now, I'll activate Sakuretsu Armor! This card destroys the monster that just attacked is taking a one-way trip to the graveyard. I guess your Gate Guardian isn't going to last for long."

"No!" said the first fiend. "You destroyed our Guardian!"

"Yes I did." Flynn said.

"But it was foolish!" said the second.

"For now I activate the Spell Card Dark Element! I can activate this whenever the Gate Guardian is in the graveyard! This allows me to summon a monster that cannot be beat in battle! For now I pay half my life points!" said the first fiend.

Flynn: 4000 

**First Fiend: 1700**

**Second Fiend: 4000**

"And now I can summon the DARK GUARDIAN (Dark/Warrior/Effect, 3800/3400) in attack mode! You will be destroyed; you have no hope! For challenging us, you should be called a dope!"

"Not quite." Said Flynn. "You can't attack this turn with him, and now it's my turn." Flynn drew a card. "Ah, a card I haven't seen this card in quite a while. It's the Card of Sanctity! Obviously, you'll also get cards, as this card allows us all to draw up to six cards, but you'll be gone long before then. For now I activate Polymerization! With it, I can fuse all the two Blue-Eyes White Dragons on my field with the one in my hand to form the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon (Light/Dragon/Fusion, 4500/3800) in attack mode! Though your Guardian is invincible in battle, he can't save your life points- especially when I activate the spell card Axe of Despair! This gives my monster an extra 1000 attack points (5500)."

"Next, I'll summon another Luster Dragon (Wind/Dragon, 1900/1600) in attack mode! And now, Blue-Eyes, attack the Guardian and break the first fiend!"

Flynn: 4000 

**First Fiend: 0**

**Second Fiend: 4000**

"No! My partner is gone!" said the second fiend.

"And you will be soon, as well. Because the Dark Guardian was your partner's monster, he's no longer around to defend you! And now, my other monsters will finish you off!"

Flynn: 4000 

**First Fiend: 0**

**Second Fiend: 0**

Both of the fiends fell to the ground and exploded. Flynn shuffled his deck back together, stored it in his duel disk, shoved his hands into his pockets, and walked away. He didn't have time to lose, he needed to hurry if he wanted to find the others.


	19. Alone and Unarmed

Chapter 19- Alone and Unarmed

Bentz was worried. Not only had the others vanished, but that had left him alone with no methods of defending himself. Without the others and their weapons, he had no way to protect himself from the unintelligent fiends that would undoubtedly come after him.

_This isn't good,_ he thought. _I can take down any number of those intelligent things, but against the others… I always was the worst in my gym class, and I haven't gotten much better since then. I need to be quiet and find the others before the fiends find me!_ On that note, he set off down a hallway that was a little too well lit for his tastes.

Thankfully, there were no fiends down that hall. If there had been any, he would have been caught then and there. There wasn't a single nook or cranny along the hall. The path now branched off in front of him in three different directions.

_Which way? _Bentz thought. _Obviously if I take the wrong way, I have no chance of surviving, but if I just stay here, my chances of surviving are even worse. Let's see… it's a one-in-three, _maybe _two-in-three chance. It's not very likely to be any better. I'll just go-_

Bentz's thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of footsteps coming from the rightmost passage. Bentz's eyes widened momentarily as he saw the shadows of two dogs stretch out along the wall. He ran into the middle passage and pressed up against the wall. The dogs came out of the passage into the crossroads area, in plain view of Bentz, but thankfully did not look back.

"This way, huh?" said one of the dogs. It wasn't really a voice, more of a growl that resembled those words.

"Yeah, huh." Said the second. "Master said he this way, huh."

"Okay, huh. Let's go, huh." The two dogs set off down the hall Bentz had come from. Bentz waited until they had vanished into the darkness, sighed, wiped the sweat from his brow, and continued down the hall. The passage was a little darker, but there were a lot of smaller hallways branching off of it. Bentz stopped at the first one.

_Should I go down there?_ He thought, scratching his head. _No, I'll keep going straight. I don't think breaking from my current path is a good idea. In any case, I can at least use them to duck into if fiends come by…_ He continued farther down the hall.

Later he heard the voices of two fiends coming down the hall. Despite the fact that he knew he could take them both, Bentz ducked into a nearby side hallway and waited for them to pass.

"…looking for?" one of them was saying. Bentz noticed that neither wore a duel disk.

_Strange,_ he thought. _I didn't know that the unintelligent ones could talk._

"We need to find the old one." Said the other fiend. "If we do, we can get this over with and rule the world, just like master wants!"

"Why are we so blessed to have such a brilliant master? Our last one didn't even open the second gate, but our new one has opened four! If he keeps this up, we will win this very quickly! We've already taken one piece, soon it all will be ours!"

"Yes." The fiends paused in there walk down the hall. They were almost straight across from the hall Bentz had hidden in. Bentz held his breath.

_What are they talking about?_ He thought. _I need to tell the others, maybe they'll know-_

"We should keep going."said the first fiend. "Make sure to check the side halls, just in case he hides in one." Bentz nearly panicked, but then the fiends proceeded to walk past his hall and begin their search farther down. Bentz waited until their footsteps had faded, then stepped out of the side hallway and continued down the hall.

He didn't meet any more fiends for a while. The hall continued straight forward and descended slightly for a long way, as far as Bentz could see. He ignored the feeling that he wasn't getting anywhere and continued on.

He didn't notice the fiend who had been following. For, indeed, the fiends that he thought he had avoided had actually known exactly where he was and had decieved Bentz into believing that they had not.

Now they made their move. They snuck closer to Bentz, who heard their breathing and turned around. He failed to mount any kind of defense. The fiends whacked him over the head, knocking him unconscious, and dragged him off to who knows what horrible fate.


	20. Farther Than Ever

Chapter 20- Farther Then Ever

Matt knew something was wrong the instant they had stepped through the arch to the shadow realm. He didn't expect whoever the mastermind was to be able to warp the destination that the gate sent people to. He didn't even know it was possible.

_Too much stuff I don't know._ Matt thought._ That's not good._

_No it is not. _Good Matt replied.

_Damn it! I hate when I don't know shit. _Evil Matt thought._ It aggravates me._

_Almost everything aggravates you._ Good Matt politely pointed out.

_Shut the fuck up!_ Thought Evil Matt. _Just because you're all peaceful and sh-_

_Could we please try to cooperate?_ Matt thought. _It makes it easier to survive._

_I have no problems with Evil Matt, apart from the fact that he is evil._ Thought Good Matt.

_Fuck you, man. I know you hate me. _Evil Matt thought.

_Now, now. Keep it G-rated._ Matt thought. He stood up and looked around. Whoever had manipulated the destination had dropped him into the core of the first level. Matt walked over to the gate and ran his hand over the frame. The gate stood wide open.

_Hmm… it seems that we have a problem._ Good Matt thought. _Look up._ Matt looked up. Above the gate were six black lights. Four of them were lit.

_Damn, that's not good. _Evil Matt thought.

_Yes… it means that four levels have been opened. I'm not sure what's down there… but whatever it is it can't be good._ Matt thought. _We need to find the others!_

_Fuck them, let's get the hell out of here!_ Evil Matt thought.

_Yeah, since when have you cared about anyone but yourself, you murderer?_ Came thousands of different voices. _All you've ever done is saved your own skin, why start now?_

_That's not true._ Matt protested. _I care about some other people-_

_Yeah right. That's why we're all dead._

_Yes it is._

The thousands of mouths opened to respond, paused, then closed, realizing that Matt was probably right. _It doesn't matter! The point still stands that the only person you care about is yourself!_

_Just shut up. I have enough problems without you guys adding to them._

_Yeah, like how about those guys?_ Good Matt said. Matt spun around. Almost 1000 fiends (of various types) were streaming into the room and headed straight for him.

_Yeah, those guys count._ Matt said, and dropped into Drunken Fist form, swaying on the spot. _I'm gonna have some problems with this…_ A bullet flew past his head, and Matt lurched forward into the fiends. He bent backwards under a fiend's claw and his foot shot into the fiend's stomach, creating a hole straight through it. Matt twisted and brought the entire fiend crashing down on one of his compatriots. He pulled his foot out, bending and twisting at the same time in order to dodge the constant attacks.

_These guys aren't particularly durable,_ Matt thought, swaying around a fiend. _But they sure are annoying!_

_Very annoying._ Evil Matt agreed.

_I'm sure there's some good in them…_ Good Matt said.

_I highly doubt it._ Matt said, executing another one of his bone-shattering punches on a fiend's skull. Its head exploded. _They just can not have bad in them._

_What does that mean?_

_They can be neutral. _Matt lashed out at a nearby dog and knocked its head clean off. There was a sharp pain in the arm that had done the destructive deed but Matt ignored it. Even so, the pain was enough to slow him down enough to give one of the fiends an opening. The fiend raked its claw across Matt's arm.

Matt's face contorted a little from the combined pain. He shoved outwards to his sides, as if pushing two people standing next to him away. A white-and-black aura shot out from him and pushed all the fiends within a twenty foot radius of him outside that distance. Matt stood straight up, his hand on his wound.

"So… that's how it's going to be?" Matt said. "Alright then…" He held his hand up and focused hard on the palm. A blue mass of lambent energy began to accumulate in his hand. He moved his other hand around it at high speed to shape it into a sphere. "This ought to help me a little. Drunken Fist is more of a hobby for me, just a kind of funny thing that I do. My true form no one has seen, but I'll give you an imitation…"

Matt ran at the nearest fiend. In seconds the fiend was little more than strips of bloody flesh on the ground, sliced up by the concentrated sphere of energy in Matt's right hand. The fiends, frozen after they had been pushed back by the energy, reacted by attacking Matt again. This time, however, they were no match for him. Even in an imitation of his true form, he was far beyond their ability to kill. A few minutes later they were little more than piles of bloody flesh on the ground. The energy in Matt's hand disappated.

"All too easy."

_Of course it was._ Evil Matt said. _You're fucking awesome!_

_No, I'm not all that great. You know why I'm so strong._

_It is because we are a contingent of souls, because our strength is the sum of our strength combined. As are all of our other physical atributes…_ Good Matt said. _In other words, because we have an extreme form of unity._

_Though it does cause some extra wear and tear on my body when I exceed my normal body's limit. I've been doing that too much lately…_ Matt said, staring at the head of the dog he had knocked off. He had gotten carried away in the fight and had accidentally used more strength than his body could supply. That had caused a tear in the muscles of his arm- causing the pain that had distracted him. _Good thing I heal at a rapid pace too…_

_Again because of the other souls around here._ Good Matt said.

_Yeah, but that's also a natural thing._ Evil Matt said. _Let's get the hell out of dodge._

_I agree._ Matt said, and turned toward the exit.

"You're not going anywhere!" came an unfortunately familiar voice. Matt looked up. Helen was standing in the balcony that they had been on last year. She was descending the steps that lead off to the side. And she had her left arm crossed over her chest, her duel disk active.

"So…you'll be my opponent now?" Matt said. _Poor girl,_ he thought._ Twice in two years._

_Don't go soft on me!_ Evil Matt said. _Slap this bitch around and let's get out of here!_

_Now, now. Calm down._ Good Matt said. _You know he never shows any mercy in this game. Which, of course, when it does not have life-or-death stakes, is fine. But then again, now it does…_

_Can you just shut it and let me do this?_ Matt said.

_Sorry._ Good Matt said.

_Whatever._ Evil Matt said.

"So, do you think you have any chance of keeping up with me?" Helen said.

"I won't just keep up with you, I'll annihilate you with little hesitation." Matt activated his duel disk. "Let's go."

"Let's duel!"

Matt: 4000 

**Helen(possessed): 4000**

"I shall begin!" Helen said. "I will summon my Petit Moth (Earth/Insect, 300/200) in defense mode! Then, I'll equip it with the Cocoon of Evolution! This card changes its attack and defense values to equal to the Cocoon! (0/2000) Now, I set a card facedown."

"Is that all you have?" Matt drew a card. _Hmm, challenge or no challenge? I'll take the challenge. I could probably win right now, but where's the fun in that? I'll make this a little longer. _"I summon Mastrus, the Guardian (Light/Warrior/Mpire/Effect, 1400/2200) in defense mode, and set a card facedown. That's all."

"Ha! Too scared to attack?" Helen drew a card.

_Why did you not attack? _Good Matt said. _Why will you not give the woman a quick and painless defeat?_

_Because that's no fun, damn it!_ Evil Matt said._ I agree with regular Matt on this one, let's draw it out!_

_Both of you, silence!_ Good and Evil Matt fell into silence. "Go on." Matt instructed Helen.

"Ha! This will be the end for you!" Helen said. "I summon Leghul (Earth/Insect/Effect, 300/350) in attack mode! Now, he may seem weak, but he can attack you directly! And since you seem unable to attack, I'll just wait her behind my monsters and attack! But not this turn. I'll wait until the next! I end my turn."

"Really?" Matt said. _Oh well. She doesn't have any idea of what I've got planned._ He drew a card. "This should bolster my defense! I'll summon my Mpirian Duck (Water/Machine/Effect, 1000/2300) in defense mode! That will end my turn."

"So, content to wait in defense?" Helen drew a card. "It will not help you! For now I summon the mighty Chainsaw Insect (Earth/Insect/Effect, 2400/0) in attack mode! He'll tear right through your defenses! Go, attack his Duck!"

"Ha. That was rash. Mastrus grants all defense monsters on my side of the field a 400 point boost. (2700)"

"No!"

Matt: 4000 

**Helen(possessed): 3700**

"Furthermore, when your bug battles with my monster, I get to draw a card." Matt drew his card.

"You'll die… Leghul! Attack him directly!"

Matt: 3700 Helen(possessed): 3700 

"Now that we're even, I'll end my turn."

"Correction: we are not even. I have card control and we have the same life points." Matt drew a card. "Not to mention that it's my turn. Hmm… so many choices. I think I'll summon my Mpirian Miner (Dark/Warrior/Effect, 0/2000) in defense mode. That will be all."

"Ha! Is that the best you can muster?" Helen drew a card. "I activate Pyro Clock of Destiny! This card moves the turn count forward one! And you know what that means… five turns have passed!"

"Yes I know."

"But! I'll wait one more. For now, I summon my Insect Knight (Earth/Insect, 1900/1500) in attack mode. Now, Chainsaw Insect, attack his Guardian!"

"What a fool. I play my trap card, Mpirian Superfortify! This card prevents you from destroying my defenses monsters, so long as all my monsters remain in defenses mode. Also, you cannot cause damage, so your Leghul is worthless now! And, furthermore, Mastrus prevents you from destroying it, and all my other cards. So, have fun breaking this lock. I'll win… in two turns. Oh yeah, and I get a card." Matt drew.

"Ha! In two turns you will be dead! Now, I set a card and end my turn."

"Good. Let it begin." Matt drew again. "I'll summon my Mpirian Knight (Light/Warrior, 1900/1400) in defense mode. Then, I set a card facedown. That's all."

"I'll destroy you!" Helen drew a card. "For now it has been six turns! I sacrifice my Petit Moth to summon the Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth (Earth/Insect/Effect, 3500/3000) in attack mode!"

"So?"

"Now I play my spell card, Offerings to the Doomed! This will destroy your Guardian! And since he's destroyed, I can play Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your Trap! Now, Great Moth, attack his stupid Knight!"

"I activate Magical Barrier. You fell right in. Now, all your monsters are gone…"

"NO! Oh well. I'll destroy you soon."

"Nope. This game's over." Matt drew a card. "Because you see, the Mpirian Miner prevents any and all of your trap cards from taking effect. So, you have little chance. And thanks for all the extra cards, because now I can send all these cards to the graveyard and summon the Mpirian Omni Machine (Light/Machine/Mpire/Fusion/Effect, 5200/5200) in attack mode. And thanks to him and the Miner, this game's over!"

"NOOOOOOOOO!!!"

"Omni Machine, end this duel!"

Matt: 3700 

**Helen(possessed): 0**

A fiend jumped out of Helen's back and she collapsed. The fiend combusted. Matt shook his head. "They're so rash."

_Oh yeah._ Evil Matt said.

_For once I agree with you. _Good Matt said. Matt nodded his final agreement, picked up Helen's body (_I would hate to leave her lying around to get possessed again_), slung it over his shoulder, and began his trek to find the others.


	21. Together Again

Chapter 21- Together Again

Drake was very confused. He had been wandering in the Shadow Realm for what felt like hours, and he felt like he was walking in circles. He could only hope that the others had been as lucky as he had been, encountering next to no fiends. But this wandering… it was worse than the fiends. The tediousness of it and the fact that he knew Matt was dying in the meantime felt like sandpaper on his sanity. He could feel himself slipping into a crazed frenzy.

Drake pushed a door open and found himself in a large octagonal room that he hadn't been in before. _Okay, progress. This is good._ A door to his left opened and Drake aimed at it. A figure walked through and Drake opened fire. The figure yelped and ducked back behind the door. _Strange, fiends don't dodge that well._

"Hold your fire, Drake! It's me, it's Flynn!" came a voice from behind the door.

"Really? Wait a minute! How do I know you're not a shadow?" Drake said. _This is bad! I can't think of anything he might say that could distinguish him!_

"Er, uh, no offense, but how do I know that it's you too?" "Flynn" said.

"Uh, let's see…" Drake said, and began to think. A door to his right opened while he was thinking. Another figure stumbled out. Drake brought up his rifle to shoot, but before he pulled the trigger he realized it was Keith and hesitated.

"Woah, for a moment I thought I was going to get shot by my own friend!" Keith said.

"Oh great." Drake said. "Now what am I supposed to do? There's two and I'm not sure if either of them are shadows."

"Yeah, that's a problem." Keith said. "Hm…let's see… how to prove that I'm the real Keith? Let's see… well, spinach freaks me out and I got the 97 on the entrance exam by pure luck."

"Yep. That's Keith." Flynn said.

"So that would mean that your Flynn." Keith said. "No one else knows that. Unless of course the fiends captured the real Flynn and found that out. Now, how to tell that you're the real Drake?"

"Well, uh… uh… gaaaaaaaah!" Drake said. "I can't think of anything!"

"Yep. That's Drake." Flynn said. "No one else would get that aggravated over think like that."

"Yeah, I agree." Keith said. Flynn walked out from behind the door. "Well, now that we have established that we're not fiends, let's move on." Flynn nodded. "How are you guys? Get past everything alright?"

"Yeah, nothing too bad here." Flynn said.

"I didn't have too much trouble." Drake said.

"Shouldn't the others be here?" Keith asked.

"Huh? What lead you to that?" Drake said.

"Well, there are six doors… one would hope that they would get here at about the same time. So, if they don't, they're either having a lot of trouble, or are caught or killed. So, that leads me to assume-"

"Don't say it." Drake said, and looked away from Keith. He didn't want to think about losing Julie, Bentz, or Matt. But mostly Julie.

Keith raised an eyebrow but didn't raise an objection. "And now, how about we get out of here?"

"Where to?" Flynn said. "As far as I can see, the only way out of here is back through one of our doors. They all locked behind us. And they're all locked from the inside. We're trapped in here!"

"Not exactly." Keith said. He walked over to the wall between Flynn's and Drake's doors and placed his hand on it. The wall slid down the reveal another passage. Drake's jaw dropped.

"How did you know that?" He said.

"It was a little lighter than the rest of the wall. I though that it might lead to a secret passage of some kind, like in a video game where all the secret doors are usually stretches of wall that are slightly different."

"And that's the case here." Flynn said.

"Apparently so." Keith said. "Let's get moving."

"Hang on a minute." Drake said. "What if this thing closes and they don't know where we went? I'm not too worried about Matt, but what about the others?"

"You have a fair point." Flynn said, frowning. "How do you plan on remedying that?"

"Hm…" Drake said, and scratched his chin. "How about we mark this wall somehow? With our initials or something?"

"Yeah, that sounds good." Keith said. "Except what are we supposed to mark it with? We don't have a pen or anything like that."

"We have this." Drake suggested, pulling a small knife out of his pocket.

"Where did you get that?" Flynn asked.

Drake shrugged. "I don't know. I noticed that it was in my pocket after I beat a fiend back there." Drake started carving a "DS" into the wall, as deep as he could. It took him a few minutes. "There." He handed the knife to Keith. It took him a little less time. Then Flynn took his turn and carved a "FT" into the wall.

"Now that that is taken care of, let's get moving." Keith said. Drake slipped the knife into his pocket, readied his rifle, and followed Flynn down the hall. They walked without event for what felt like an eternity.

"What's up with this?" Flynn said. "I swear we keep passing the same candle stick every three minutes."

"How can you tell?" Drake asked.

"Well, all the candles are different in here. I don't know why." Flynn said.

"Perhaps you have found a series of similar candles?" Keith suggested.

"I don't think so." Flynn said. "I think something is making us go through the same hall over and over."

"That's not good." Drake said. "We could be trapped here forever!"

"Yes, we could." Flynn said. "Only thing to do is keep walking." And so they did.

It might have been minutes, hours, days that passed as they went down the hallway over and over. Drake couldn't tell. All he knew is that he wasn't getting either tired or hungry. He didn't feel any need to relieve himself. And he had no idea why.

"This isn't right." Keith said. "We have to have walked at least for eight hours, and yet we have yet to feel the urge to eat. I have an idea." Keith looked down at his watch and pressed a button on the side. "I think this is where we started. So, I'll start this now…" He pressed another button. "…we walk." They strode down the hall for what felt like (and probably was) the thousandth time. After a while, Keith stopped. He was staring at his watch, dumbfounded. "This is incredible."

"What?" Drake asked.

"Well… when we got back here, my watch reset itself. I didn't touch it. I think… that every time we get to a certain point, we get sent back in time to another point. And we just get sent back to the time when I started my watch."

"That is very complicated. But wouldn't that mean that we have only walking for five minutes?" Drake said.

"Yes… the same five minutes over and over." Flynn said. "Any ideas how to break the cycles?"

"Not a one." Keith said. "We may as well keep going. After all, we may figure something out!" And so they walked down the hallway again. And they reset again.

"This is boring." Drake said. "And bothersome. Maybe we should just sit here until someone else comes along."

"Well… we can't be sure that anyone else is coming." Keith said.

"He's right. If we're caught in this eternal loop, it would be logical to assume that the others could be too. And since the time here does not affect the time in the real world, it is possible that we will be forced to remain here for eternity while the world is destroyed." Flynn said. The wall behind them slid up.

"Hello there gents." Matt said. "Did I miss something?"

"No, unless you count walking down this hall a thousand times." Flynn said. Matt smiled a twisted sort of smile.

"Repetition Syndrome. It occurs almost at random throughout the Shadow Realm, causes certain parts to be caught in infinite loops. It can be harnessed and controlled, of course. Some of the less scrupulous people would use it to make torture last longer." Matt said. "It's annoying when it happens. Usually you can stop it by drastically changing the starting circumstances. So, with my arrival, the thing should be broken. Let's go." And so they followed Matt.

He was right, of course. They managed to get to a part of the hall they hadn't gotten to before. Unfortunately, it lead to the torture chambers.

"Why does everything lead to these kind of places?" Drake asked, staring at a disemboweled corpse hanging from the wall.

"Because the evil guys think that it will break us." Matt said.

"Of course, it doesn't work on us." Flynn said. He opened a door. "Let's try in- oh my god." He was standing stock still in the doorway, a look of shock on his face.

"What is it?" Matt said. There was a note of urgency in his voice. He pushed Flynn out of the doorway, looked once, then turned around and covered his face. Drake moved past him. He could feel Keith behind him. Drake moved through the doorway. He nearly threw up.

Bentz was lying in the middle of the room, and he was leaking blood at a ridiculous rate. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that his one arm and both his legs were lying on the other side of the room. There were about thirty spikes rammed through his body and face. It was quite obvious that he was long dead.

"That's not good." Keith said.


	22. Search and Rescue

Chapter 22- Search and Rescue

" 'Not good'?!? 'Not good'?!?" Drake said. "Where the hell is 'Not good' coming from?!? This is bad, really bad! Without him, we're short on firepower again!"

"This is true." Flynn said. "He was a great duelist, and he stood up to the Shadow Game well. We truly have lost something here…"

"Yeah…" Keith said. And for a moment they all stood there. No one had died up to this point, and even though they had had quite a few close shaves before, but none of them had suspected that someone would actually die. And here was something in direct contradiction of it.

Flynn broke the silence. "We need to go." He said. "This is a torture chamber. If we get caught here, there won't be enough time to escape before they can get us too."

"Yeah." Drake said. He turned away. "Let's get out of here." He realized that he had broken into a cold sweat. He was incredibly nervous, he couldn't stop himself from shaking. He nearly dropped his rifle he was shaking so bad. Flynn laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Calm down, Drake." Flynn said. "Are you nervous about what might have happened to Julie?"

"Yes." Drake said. The image of a dead Julie was too clear in his mind, and he couldn't deal with it. Losing Bentz was bad enough, but to lose Julie… he didn't think he could live after that.

"She'll be fine." Flynn said. "She's been through more than any of us, and she's tough. We'll find her." Drake stopped shaking a little. He was still afraid that Julie would be dead or worse before they could reach her, but somehow he believed Flynn. Flynn nodded reassuringly. "Let's go."

Drake nodded back. Keith walked out of the room with Bentz's body and shut the door. "Yeah, let's go." He looked around. "Hey, where did Matt go?"

Drake and Flynn looked around. Matt had vanished from sight. Drake was confused. If Matt could have stayed with them, he would have. Drake didn't know why Matt had vanished so suddenly. Flynn tapped him on the shoulder. "There." He pointed toward the hall they had come from.

Matt was kneeling on the ground at the opening to the hall, griping his head so hard that his knuckles were white. His hood had fallen off, and his hair seemed to standing almost on end. His entire body was shaking. He seemed to be leaking the same energy that formed his Blue Sphere of Death. They all stared at him. Then Keith's eyes widened.

"Get out of the way!" He shouted, and pushed Flynn and Drake through a door to their left. They landed hard in a room filled with undoubtedly dead bodies. Drake sat up, rubbing his head.

"What was that for?" He asked. Keith looked almost frightened.

"I don't want to be around for what I think is about to happen." Keith said.

"And what is that?" Flynn said.

"It's not going to be pretty."

Drake was about to ask what he was talking about, but then he heard a noise out in the hall. Matt was speaking in a very quiet and deadly tone.

"You…you monsters… you dare to kill him…" His voice rose to a violent yell. "I'LL KILL YOU ALL!!!"

Drake tried to get up, but Flynn grabbed him and pulled him back down. "You don't want to get in the way of that!" He said. Drake opened his mouth to argue, but then Matt blew by the room. He was running at such a fast pace that the doors on the rooms were ripped off their hinges. He was holding one of his Blue Spheres of Death in each hand, though it was a miracle he saw anything at the pace Matt was moving. It was so fast, in fact, that Drake was sucked out into the hall. He was pulled across the hall and slammed against the opposite wall.

Stars flashed in front of Drake's eyes. He rolled over and sat up. Flynn and Keith had been pulled across with him, and were in similar states of shock. "What was that?" Drake asked. Matt's murderous shouts were still echoing down the hall, despite the fact that he must have been quite a ways away.

"I think that Matt just lost it." Keith said. "Odd, I didn't think he had it in him."

"He sounds pretty damn scary though." Flynn said. "We probably should go after him before he gets himself killed." Drake nodded and ran after Matt.

They found him quite a ways down the hall, breathing hard and standing over a massive pool of blood. His eyes were frightening, Drake thought, and his blue spheres had turned night black. His features had changed drastically, his skin had blackened and his hair had grown longer. His fingernails had grown into claws, and he was quite hunched over. His entire body was still shaking, and he was laughing maniacally under his breath.

For a moment Drake and the other two kept their distance from him. Then, slowly at first but then more rapidly, Matt's inhuman features receded, and they dared approach him. He turned to face them as they approached.

"Sorry." He said. "I shouldn't have done that."

"Exactly what did you do?" Drake said.

"I get a little aggravated and went on a killing spree."

" 'A little aggravated'?" Keith questioned.

"Okay, very agitated."

"Yeah, how many guys did you kill? And how did you reduce them to nothing but a pool of blood?" Flynn said. "And what did you kill?"

Matt shrugged. "Don't know. I just killed anything that got in my way. I wasn't really paying attention. I usually don't when I do that. Again, sorry I did that and left you guys behind."

"Why did you do that?" Drake asked. Matt's eyes flared and Drake jumped. "S-s-sorry… I won't ask." Maybe it was just the eye, but Drake knew it was a question that Matt didn't want to answer.

"Uh, where are we?" Flynn said.

"Just a little farther into the torture cells." Keith said. "I don't think we got out of them yet."

"No we haven't." Matt said. "Crap, I probably just drew a ton of guards to our position."

"It doesn't matter." Flynn said. "We can take 'em."

"I hope so." Matt said. "After that, they'll probably send everything they have after us now that I've mutilated their guards. And this looks to be a pretty important place, judging from all the hi-tech locks and heavy metal doors."

"You're right." Keith said. "I wonder if there's anyone in here-" He was cut off as a piercing scream echoed down the hallway. Drake's mind ran wild. He knew that scream; he had heard it too many times as it was, and he didn't want to here it again.

"That was Julie!" He said, and began to run down the hall.

"Wait!" Matt caught him before he got far. "Take your time! If you go rushing in, you risk them killing her the moment they see you!" Drake pulled Matt's hand off his shoulder.

"You should talk! Going berserk and running off like that!" Drake said. It was not a good thing to say. The murderous intent returned to Matt's eyes. His right hand shot to Drake's neck, and he almost effortlessly lifted Drake from the ground. Drake gasped for breathe, Matt was incredibly strong. Then, for no apparent reason, Matt let go. Drake fell to the ground, still gasping and massaging his neck.

"Don't ever say anything like that again. I will kill you." Matt turned away. Then he turned back, and his eyes were full of concern. "Hang on, what just happened?"

" 'What just happened'? How can you not remember?" Keith said. "You just tried to strangle Drake!"

"I did?" Matt said. "Whoops, did I go berserk before this?"

"Yes! How can you not remember?!?" Flynn said.

"Well, after we found Bentz dead, I kind of lost it and I can't remember much. I have this vague memory of talking to you guys next to a pool of blood, but else nothing." Matt said. "That must have been Evil Matt. He tends to come out whenever stuff like this happens. I must have still been around here somewhere, otherwise he would have crushed Drake's throat. I'm sorry."

"It's okay, I guess." Drake said. "I should apologize, too. I was out of line with that comment, and to insult you after you've done so much for us… I was wrong."

"It's alright. I've had lots of worse things done to me. Now, what is going on?"

"We heard Julie scream from somewhere down the hall." Drake supplied.

"You think it was Julie." Keith said. "How do you know?"

"I'm sure of it."

"How?"

"Don't know."

Keith looked doubtful. He was about to object again when Flynn interrupted. "Look, does it matter who it is, we still have to save her!"

"An excellent point, Flynn." Matt said. "Follow me and stay quiet." He slid up next to the wall and started walking along it. Drake noticed that he was carrying Helen.

"Hey, Matt, where did you pick up the prof?" Drake asked.

"I found her possessed near the core of the realm. I decided it wasn't a good idea to leave her lying around and I've been hauling here around ever since." He replied. "But quiet!" A scream came out of the door they were next to. Matt looked in through the bars on the door, winced, and dropped back down. "Damn! Those assholes…"

"What's going on?" Drake said. "Is it Julie?"

Matt set Helen's body on the ground. "Yes, it is. And damn, I'd hate to be in her position."

"What are they doing to her?" Drake asked. _Hurry up and spit it out, Matt! It's killing me!_

"They are electrocuting her." Matt said calmly. "Not with much voltage, I'm sure."

"How can you be sure?" Keith asked.

"One: I can see the machine that they have her hooked up to. Second, they have another machine in there, seemingly ready to be used. And they'll need her alive if the plan on using it."

"What's the machine? Stop leaving off bits of information!" Drake said.

"Alright. It's a machine used to extract souls. I would assume they want her soul for some purpose… but I don't know exactly why. It could be for almost anything. Maybe they just want her out of the way, or to take control of her considerable dueling talent. But if they wanted to get rid of her, they'd kill her. Maybe they want information they can only get with threats."

"Okay." Flynn said. "So we need to rescue her, obviously?"

"Yes, obviously. So, here's the plan. We walk in-" Julie screamed again. Drake could her the electricity, and he nearly broke into tears. "-with guns blazing. Be careful not to hit each other, but don't worry about me. Alright?" Julie screamed again, but this time it was a little faint.

"We've got the plan, let's go!" Drake said, and grabbed the door handle. There was a strange sensation, and then he felt an immense pain and smelled burning flesh. The door was electrified! Flynn grabbed him and pulled him back.

"Are you all right?" Matt said.

"Yeah." Drake said, shaking his head. He felt bad, but he had to save Julie!"

"I doubt that, but we have no time to argue. It sounds like Julie isn't doing too well." Matt reached for the door, shoved his fingers through it, and ripped the door clean of its hinges. "GO!" He dashed in ahead of them. Drake shook his head, stood up, and ran into the room.

The first fiend he saw was absolutely massive and very surprised. Drake unloaded an entire clip into it and it still didn't die. Drake loaded another clip in and unloaded about half of it into the fiend's jaw. It finally went down. Drake turned to see another few fiends coming towards him. They were also very large. He raised his rifle to fire, but stopped when Matt dashed in front of him, picked up one of the fiends (_My god!_ Drake thought, _That thing must weigh at least a ton!_) and threw it at its compatriots, all of whom died.

For some reason Matt went down to the ground, clutching his arms. This would have given the fiend he had thrown a window of opportunity to strike, except that Drake emptied an entire clip into its head, causing it to keel over and die. Drake ran over to Matt.

"Are you alright?!?" He shouted. Matt shook his head. Drake loaded in another clip and stood ready to defeat anything that came his way, but whatever had been in that room had been stomped out by their attack. Flynn and Keith ran over.

"What's wrong with Matt?" Flynn asked.

"I don't know!" Drake said. "He just picked up one of those fiends, threw it, and went down! I'm not sure why."

"Ow…" Matt said, and stood up slowly. "Great. Just great." Drake could see blood leaking out from under the bandages on his arm. It was flowing a little more freely from his other arm. Both his arms hung uselessly at his sides. "This isn't good."

"What's wrong?" Keith asked.

"Later." Matt said. "We need to check on Julie. She's in worse condition than I."

"He's right!" Drake said. He rushed to the center of the room. Julie was strapped to a table. Several little attachment probes were stuck to her head, forearms, and lower calves. The bindings that attached her to the table were cutting into her wrists and ankles, and the one around her waist had begun to cut through her jacket and into the skin under it. Drake quickly undid the bindings. Julie's body rolled limply off the table. Drake caught it and smelt burnt flesh. They had certainly been electrocuting her, or burning her. She was breathing shallowly.

_Thank God she's still alive._ Drake thought. He buried his face in her chest and started crying. She seemed so dead like that, Drake couldn't help himself. Besides, no one was watching. It took him a while to pull himself together. By that time, Keith, Flynn, and Matt had made their way over to him. Drake quickly wiped the tears away.

"Ready to go?" Flynn said. "Is she okay?"

"Yeah." Drake said, and sniffed. He wasn't sure if any of them noticed (except, of course, for Matt, who noticed everything) but he didn't care. "Let's get going. Is Matt okay?"

"Apart from having most of the muscles in his arms torn to shreds, he's fine." Keith said.

"It's nothing." Matt said. He raised both arms above his head and moved them around a bit. "See? I'm fine."

"How did you do that?" Flynn asked. "A few seconds ago the muscles were split in so many places it was like a cake at one of my family birthday parties! And I have a lot of relatives!"

"We can't stay here." Matt said, ignoring Flynn's question. "We need to get moving." He walked out the door and picked up Helen's body again. "Come on, we need to hoof it to the Vault of Souls." He vanished around the door. Drake, bearing Julie's body, Flynn and Keith, both wearing looks of disbelief, followed.


	23. Trip to the Soul Bank

Chapter 23- A Trip to the Soul Bank

"Would you explain why we need to get to the Vault?" Drake asked.

"So I can set Helen down." Matt said. "She's put on a few pounds and I don't want to have to drop her every time we run into some fiends. And I'm not in the best shape of my life."

"What are you talking about? You're stronger, faster, and tougher than anyone I've ever known." Drake said. "How aren't you in great shape?"

"Because, if you haven't noticed, my body is falling apart. I'm only in decent shape, by ninja standards-"

"That's still better than all of us combined." Flynn muttered.

"-and I have so many injuries it's ridiculous." Matt finished. "My muscles are rotting, and my bones are weak. I have about a quarter of the energy I used to have. My memory is failing; I used to know over 1000 ninja techniques and skills, now I can remember about 2. I have several diseases. I'm just a shadow of what I once was."

"Really? How good were you?" Keith said.

"Let's see… in my heyday, there wasn't a single ninja that could best me in single combat, and most squads couldn't either, even with their leaders. Like I said, I'm just a shadow of what I once was, though some say I still have it. I can't even use my true fighting form because I don't have the energy to do it anymore. That's why I learned Drunken Fist in the first place. That and because it was funny."

"Really? That's too bad." Flynn said. "It would have been cool to see you at the top of your game, rather than the bottom of it."

"I suppose. But I'm not totally at rock bottom. I've still got a little left, and I'm still pretty good at dueling. Who knows, you might yet see me back at my top if I find something…"

"What? What are you looking for?" Keith said.

"I'm not looking for anything. I said that if I found something I might come back a little. But I'm not looking for it. It's just a myth, I'm not going to hope." Matt said. They continued to press him, but he wouldn't speak anymore about it. For a while they walked in silence. Then Julie stirred and woke up.

"What happened?" She said weakly. "I feel… well, actually I don't. My entire body is numb."

"You were shocked with approximately fifty volts, at a current rate of 9 milliamps, across the chest, head, and body. You have reason to feel numb. It's almost miraculous that you survived. I'm sure they didn't want to kill you, for one reason or another, but they caused the electricity to pass across and through your heart." Matt said. "In addition, they bound you so hard that it cut into your flesh. Do you remember anything?"

"Only a little… I remember that something hit me hard on the head… and I remember seeing this huge pile of dead bodies… oh…" Julie broke into tears.

"What?" Drake said. "What's wrong?"

"It's just that…oh…" She sniffled, wiped her eyes, and continued crying. "The fiends… they… have a pile of the dead in a room. It's horrible. Mutilated bodies, men, women, even babies… it made me sick…" Julie continued to sob.

Matt lay a gentle hand on Julie's shoulder. "It's okay. Just forget it."

"I…I don't think I can."

Matt sighed. "Can you move?"

"A…a little…I think."

"Set her down, Drake."

Drake slowly lowered Julie to the ground. Her feet hit the ground and Drake let go. For a moment it looked like her legs wouldn't hold, but after bracing herself against a wall and taking some time to steady herself, she was able to walk normally.

"Okay, that's good." Matt said. "Let's get going again." They proceeded down the passage, hung a left, and walked down another passageway, slowing down for Julie. It didn't take too long to reach the Vault of Souls. "See? Piece of cake."

"Uh, Matt? One thing- we don't have the key." Keith said.

Matt smiled wryly. "See what I meant when I said that my memory was failing? I can't even remember that the vault needs a key!"

"AHA! You fools!!!" A fiend dropped from the ceiling.

"Or did I?" Matt whispered.

"Now I will destroy you all!" said the fiend. "One by one!"

"Okay then, let's go." Drake said, and activated his duel disk.

"Who said I was challenging you?" the fiend growled. "No, I'm challenging her!" He pointed at Julie.

_What a surprise!_ Drake thought. _Going after Julie when she's weakest! Where have we seen this before? Oh, yeah, every other fiend does this!_

"Who, me?" Julie said. "Uh, okay…"

"Ha! I knew I picked the perfect person to warm up on." The fiend taunted. "Now, let's go!"

"Let's duel!"

Julie: 4000 

**Fiend: 4000**

"Do you think she'll be okay?" Drake said. "She still looks bad."

"She'll do fine." Matt said. "I've seen people in a lot worse condition than her, and they were fighting like heroes."

"Yes, but those were your ninja friends! We don't have that kind of training or resistance to pain!" Drake said.

"That wasn't during my ninja days. That was from my days in the army. I saw one man get shot three times in the same shoulder, and he acted like he wasn't hurt at all. He kept his rifle to that shoulder and kept firing."

"You were in the army?"

"Yes, but we'll talk about that later."

"I'll go first!" said the fiend. He drew a card. "You'll never win! I set a monster in defense mode and add a facedown card! Your turn."

"Is that all you've got?" Julie said, and drew a card. "Hm…not exactly what I wanted, but I can roll with it. I'll summon Dark Blade (Dark/Warrior, 1800/1600) in attack mode!" Julie's Dark Blade appeared, surrounded in an eerie pinkish glow. "Wait, that's not normal…"

"So? Make your move already so I can annihilate you!" said the fiend.

"Fine then! Dark Blade, attack his monster!"

"Ha! That was my Giant Rat! When he's destroyed in battle, I get to special summon an Earth attribute monster with 1500 attack points in attack mode. So, I'll bring out my Crioshpinx (Earth/Rock/Effect, 1200/2400)."

"So? He can't match Dark Blade."

"Not yet he can't, but later he shall. Are you finished?"

"Yes, I am."

"Good! Now let the torture begin!" The fiend drew a card. "I switch my Sphinx to defense mode, then I'll set a monster in defense mode and end my turn."

"Wow, you're no fun to play with." Julie said. She drew a card. "Yeah. Not good. I guess… hmm…I'll set this card and end my turn."

"Ha! You fool!" The fiend drew a card. "Now I'll reveal my facedown monster! Golem Sentry (Earth/Rock/Effect, 800/1800)! When he's flip summoned, I get to return one monster on the field to the owner's hand! So, your Dark Blade is now bounced back to your hand! And because of Criosphinx's special ability, I now get to discard a card from your hand!"

"Oh no!" Julie said.

"And now, the card that's farthest left in your hand is gone!"

"Ha! You fool! That was Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World! When he's sent from my hand to the graveyard, I get to special summon him! (Dark/Fiend/Effect, 2300/1400)" Goldd appeared on the field, shrouded in the same pinkish aura that had surrounded Dark Blade. "And because you are the one who discarded him, I get to choose two cards on your side of the field and destroy them! So, I'll get rid of your Sentry and your facedown card!"

"Ha! My facedown card was the Dark Coffin! When it's destroyed while facedown, I get to destroy any monster on your side of the field! And that means that Goldd is gone!"

"No! But I just summoned him!"

"And now the Shadow Game shall kick in! You see, in this game, every one of your monsters represents the memory of a person you care about! So, when the monster is destroyed, so is the memory, and your knowledge of the person!"

"No!"

"Oh, dear." Matt said. "This isn't good. I remember when this happened the first time."

" 'The first time'? When was that?" Drake asked.

"Do you ever pay attention in Dueling History Class?" Keith said.

"Not this year." Drake said. "I kept falling asleep, remember?"

"Oh, yes. I remember now." Keith frowned. "That was an interesting lesson, though. We were discussing Battle City, you see, and the duel between one Mai Valentine and another Marik Ishtar came up. We were discussing whether or not there actually was a Shadow Game in that instance or not. The Shadow Game that Marik used was the same damn game as this one is- memory deletion. Mai was a world-hardened person, and the game broke her. I don't want to think about what it will do to Julie, she's much more sensitive than Mai was."

"An unfortunately accurate summary. This is going to be harder than anything she's ever been through. She's been through physical torture, yes, but oftentimes this psychological torture is much worse…" Matt said.

"And now, let's find out who you'll forget!" The fiend said. Julie looked stunned for a moment, then cried out.

"Flynn! No! Wait! Come back…" Julie reached out as if trying to grab something just out of her reach. Her hand fell down and she began to sob.

"Julie!" Matt said. "Stand up! You need to win this!"

"But…Flynn is gone…" She said, and looked right at him. "I'll never see him again…"

"But I'm right here!" Flynn said.

"Don't bother." Matt whispered. "She can't see or hear you unless you get to her in a very intense way that I don't think you can."

"Oh…" Flynn said, and looked helpless. "What should I do?"

"Well, don't talk to us so we don't look weird to her."

"Yeah, that would look strange."

"And just watch the match."

"Okay."

"Now then, it's still my turn, is it not?" said the fiend. "Hmm…what to do? Let's see…I'll just set a monster and end my turn."

"Okay…uh…I can do this…I think…" Julie drew a card. "Uh, I'll summon Zure, Knight of Dark World (Dark/Fiend, 1800/1500) in attack mode! Now, I'll attack your facedown monster!"

"Ha! That was my Moai Interceptor Cannons (Earth/Rock/Effect, 1100/2000), and since he has more defense than your attack, you lose life points!"

Julie: 3800 

**Fiend: 4000**

"Unfortunately for me, your monster was not destroyed, so you retain your precious memories."

"Okay…I'll end my turn, I guess…"

"Ha!" The fiend drew a card. "Playing like that, you won't last long! I sacrifice my Cannons to summon Hieracosphinx (Earth/Rock/Effect, 2400/1200) in attack mode! Now, my Sphinx, destroy her Knight!"

Julie: 3200 

**Fiend: 4000**

"And because another of your monsters is destroyed, you lose the memory of another person! Let's find out who!"

Julie looked stunned again, then screamed. "NO! Matt! Please! Don't leave me now! I need you…I can't go on like this! Come back…" She broke into tears. The fiend smiled evilly.

"Hehe…I knew I chose well. Let's see her do something after this!"

"Julie! You have to keep dueling!" Drake said.

"Yes! If you don't, we'll all be doomed!" Keith said.

"But…they've left already…first Flynn and then Matt…it hurts…" She continued to cry. "If I keep dueling, I'll lose you all!" And she continued to sob into her hands.


	24. Breaking Through Despair

Chapter 24- Breaking Through Despair

Julie continued to cry on the ground. There seemed to be no way to get her to stop. Drake thought he might as well try again.

"You won't fail us!" Drake said, but Julie ignored it. Drake turned to Matt. "Can't you do anything?"

"Nope." Matt said. "I don't have the attachment to her required to break this game."

"But she loves you!" Drake said.

"And I don't have that kind of attachment." Matt repeated. "I know how she feels about me, but that doesn't matter. I can't return those kinds of feelings to her. Therefore, I will not be able to break through."

"Oh…" Drake turned to Keith. "What do we do? Matt and Flynn can't do anything."

"We have to get her back in this first." Keith said.

"Right!" Drake said. He turned back to Julie. "Come on, Julie! We need you!"

"But…"

"No buts! You can do this!"

"I…but I've already failed…"

"Not yet! You're still in this!"

"I…but I…I… yes, I can!" She wiped her eyes and stood up.

"I'm not done yet." Said the fiend. He didn't look too pleased that he hadn't broken Julie yet. "But now I am. I'll end my turn with you in this horrible position."

"Okay." Julie drew a card. "This will do…I activate End of the World! Now, by tributing monsters of eight stars…" She sent Dark Blade and Beiige, Vanguard of Dark World to her graveyard. "And I can summon Demise, King of Armageddon (Dark/Fiend/Ritual/Effect, 2400/2000) in attack mode! Granted, he's only the equal of your monster…but not if I add a little to him! I activate my facedown card, Axe of Despair! Granted, Demise already has a pretty cool axe, but this one gives him an extra 1000 attack points! (3400) Now, Demise, kill the Hieracosphinx!"

Julie: 3200 

**Fiend: 3000**

"And now that your monster is destroyed, you lose a memory!"

"So what?" The fiend said. "It doesn't matter to me."

"Fine then. I wonder how you'll feel after it's all gone…" Julie said. "Oh well, I end my turn."

"Heh. You've walked right into a trap!" The fiend drew a card. "And now, I sacrifice my Sphinx to summon my best creature- Exxod, Master of the Guard! I special summon him in attack mode!"

"So? He has no attack points!" (Earth/Rock/Effect, 0/4000)

"Right now he doesn't, but once I activate Shield & Sword, his attack and defense switch! So now he has 4000, and because this spell affects Demise too, his attack drops slightly to 3000! Now, Exxod, destroy Demise!"

Julie: 2200 

**Fiend: 3000**

"And now, let's keep the torture rolling! Who shall you forget now?" The fiend smiled evilly. "There isn't much left…"

Julie's eyes widened, and tears filled her eyes. "No!!! Drake! Come back! I don't want to lose you too! Especially not you! Come back! I… I love you!" Apparently, her cries didn't help, because she fell facedown on the ground. Drake could tell by her shaking body that she was crying hard. And he couldn't help her. He wanted to reach out and hold her, to comfort her, except that he knew he couldn't. She wouldn't feel him there.

Keith looked helpless. He was the only one left who could help her, and he was at a complete loss. "What should I do?"

"I don't think you can do anything." Matt said. "She's absolutely destroyed, she's lost the two people that she cared most about, and she's broken down. I don't know if she has enough strength to pull through. You do know, Mai didn't win her duel against Marik. I don't know if Julie will be able to change that."

"She can!" Drake said.

Matt sighed. "I wish I had half the faith in her that you do."

"Can't you see the future? Can't you guess what's going to happen?"

"Nope. I haven't been able to for a while. I'm functioning on my natural intellect."

"Oh…" Drake was depressed. He wanted to help Julie, and knew he couldn't. It killed him; it tore him apart inside. There was a killer pain in the center of his chest and he couldn't do anything about it. Drake felt a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"I know how you feel." Matt whispered in his ear. "It hurts, doesn't it? To be unable to help someone you care about… but you have to be strong. You have to believe in her, that's all we can do now."

Drake nodded. The pain didn't go away, but Matt's words had a funny effect. It calmed him down. It made him believe in Julie again. _Now if she would just believe in herself!_ He thought. Julie slowly got onto all fours, still crying. Then she got to her feet. Her face was streaked with tears, but she looked determined.

"Ha! Ready to get beat down again?" The fiend said.

"No. I'm going to take you down." She said. "They may not be around anymore, but my friends are still relying on me. And I've still Keith… one last friend… but that's enough!"

"It doesn't matter! Soon he'll be gone as well! And it's still my turn. So now, I'll set two cards, and set a monster in defense mode! That's all for now."

"Okay, now that your done, I can destroy your Exxod! Because your turn is over, the effects of Shield & Sword are done, and his attack points go back to zero." Julie drew a card. "And now, I'll activate my spell card, Gateway to Dark World! With it, I can special summon Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World from my graveyard! Now, Goldd, attack Exxod!"

"I activate my Waboku trap card! Now you'll do no damage!"

"Curses… I'll set a card and end my turn."

"Fine then! It's time to destroy you!" The fiend drew a card. "Now I'll play my facedown card, Call of the Haunted! I'll use it to bring back my Hieracosphinx! And now I'll flip summon my monster, Great Spirit (Earth/Rock/Effect, 500/1500)! When it's flipped, the Great Spirit reverses the attack and defense values of one Earth monster! So now Exxod has 4000 attack again! And because I flipped an Earth monster, Exxod does 1000 damage to your life points!"

Julie: 1200 

**Fiend: 3000**

"No! She's going to lose!" Drake said.

"Go, Hieracosphinx, attack her Goldd!"

Julie: 1100 

**Fiend: 3000**

"And because I destroyed your monster, your last memory is gone!"

"No!" Julie said, and spun around, looking right at where Keith was. It was apparent that she couldn't see him there. "No! Keith! But… now I'm…"

"Yes, you are all alone!!!" The fiend began to laugh. "You have no friends left! They have all abandoned you! And now, you shall fail!"

Julie fell slowly to her knees. Drake couldn't feel the pain she must have felt, but he could see it in her eyes. They were empty and distraught. He could see her sanity slipping away as she came to grips with apparently being alone. He couldn't help himself. He ran towards her.

"Drake, wait!" Matt shouted. Drake ignored him. He couldn't take it any more. He could no longer bear seeing Julie so defeated. He knelt down in front of her. He knew she couldn't see him, but he felt like he had to do something. He laid his hands on her shoulders.

"Julie, don't do this! I can't bear to see you like this!" He said. He could feel her shivering under his grip. She didn't seem to notice that someone was touching her.

"I'm…I'm so cold…why is it so dark? It's getting colder…there's no one to help me… I…I feel so dead…" She mumbled. Drake could feel her skin under his hands getting cold.

"Julie! Listen, please! You have to hear me! There are still people who care about you! There are people who need you! I need you!"

And then something incredible happened. Julie looked up and stared into Drake's eyes. Her eyes were glazed over, but there could be no doubt. She knew who he was. "What? Drake? What's happening to me? I've failed you…I can't do this."

"Yes you can! You're one of the best duelists in the entire school! You can beat this guy! Now get back in this game!" And, without explanation, Julie threw her arms around him and started sobbing into his shoulder. "Come on! This isn't the time for this! You've got to do this!"

Julie let go. "You're right. Thanks, Drake." She stood up. Drake smiled at her and stepped out of the way.

"Walk all over him." He said. As he walked back toward the others, he noticed that Matt was smiling. "What?"

"Only you could have done that." He said. "Good job. That might be what she needed."

"Oh, boohoo!" The fiend said. "So touching! But it doesn't matter! I'll crush her this turn! Go, Exxod, annihilate her!"

"I play my facedown card, Draining Shield! This negates your attack and gives me life points equal to your monster's attack points!"

Julie: 5100 

**Fiend: 3000**

"Grr… Great Spirit, attack directly!"

Julie: 4600 

**Fiend: 3000**

"Just a scratch." Julie said. "You done?"

"No, because now my Spirit can go into defense mode and set a card! Now I'm done."

"Too bad Exxod now has no attack again." Julie said, and drew a card. "This isn't going to be pretty for you! I activate Fulfillment of the Contract! Now, by paying 800 life points, I can special summon Demise again!"

Julie: 3800 

**Fiend: 3000**

"So? Once he attacks, I'll activate my trap and destroy him!"

"No you won't! Because now I'll use his special ability! By paying 2000 life points…"

Julie: 1800 

**Fiend: 3000**

"…I can destroy all cards but Demise!"

"No! But it still doesn't matter! You haven't won yet!"

"I have. I activate my Rush Recklessly spell card! This gives one monster a temporary 700 point boost! So, now Demise has more than 3000 attack points!"

"NO!"

"Demise, attack him directly!"

Julie: 1800 

**Fiend: 0**

The fiend let out a horrific wail, then exploded. Julie, weakened by the stress of the duel, fell back down to her knees. Drake ran back to her and threw his arm over her shoulder.

"What's wrong?" He said.

"It's just that…the others are gone…" she said.

"No we're not." Matt said. "We're still here, right here, right behind you." She turned around, saw all three, smiled, and began to cry again. But they were happy tears.

"Oh, I thought I had lost you all forever…" she said.

"Nah, of course not." Flynn said.

"How could we ditch you?" Keith said. "You're too sweet."

"Thank you…" Julie said. Drake helped her to her feet.

"Thank god that's over with." Drake said. "It was killing me."


	25. Up and Out

Chapter 25- Up and Out

Matt frowned a little. "This is getting bad. If they can develop a Shadow Game that is even worse than this, there might not be hope for us."

"What are you talking about?" Flynn said.

"I think I know what he means." Drake said. He knelt down next to Julie, wrapped his arms around her, and gently rocked her. She didn't resist but instead threw her arms around Drake and held tight, tears running down her cheeks.

"I thought I had lost you." She said.

"Not yet." Drake said quietly. Matt groaned and held his hand to the left side of his forehead. Everyone stared at him. _What's wrong now?_ Drake thought. Matt cringed and turned away, still clutching the left side of his head with his left hand.

"Matt, what's wrong?" Keith said. He began to approach Matt, but Matt waved him off with his other hand.

"A little disturbance." He said. "It'll be okay in a little while." And so for a while they sat there, Matt groaning a little from some kind of mysterious pain, Drake holding Julie, Julie crying softly into Drake's jacket, and Keith and Flynn staring at any of them. Matt shook his head forcefully, stood up straight, and walked over to the place where the fiend had stood. He bent over and picked something up.

"Well here's the key." He said. "Guess I didn't forget…hehe."

"What are you talking about?" Drake said.

"I guessed that after last year the key fiend wouldn't go far away from the vault. And sure enough he was here. However, because his leader has probably issued some kind of order to slaughter us, he attacked when he saw us."

"Why didn't you go first then?" Drake said. He was kind of angry at Matt. If he had known that the key fiend was here, why hadn't he taken it upon himself to fight the monster? He had caused Julie immeasurable pain and shirked away from it himself.

"Because there was no way that the fiend would come out if it was just me. No one really wants to duel me if they can avoid it, and he could have. So I brought us all in an attempt to get him greedy and think he could take us all down. And it worked."

"Yeah, it worked, but it nearly destroyed Julie!" Drake was shouting now.

"Drake, remember who you're talking to!" Keith said urgently. Drake ignored him.

"All this time you've known all this stuff and you've never let us in on it! Why don't you? Wouldn't it be beneficial to the group if we all knew exactly what was going on?" Drake let go of Julie, stood up, and faced Matt.

"I… GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!" Matt's hand shot to the left side of his face again. He fell to his knees, screaming from the strange pain. He bent over, coughed, and spat out a large amount of blood. He rolled over and lay flat on his back. "SHUT UP! SHUT UP SHUT UP!" He shouted at no one in particular. The others gaped at him. They knew he had problems with talking to himself (literally) but they had never known it to ever be this bad.

Matt continued to shout at the voices in his head to shut up, then, when that didn't help, rolled over to the door of the vault of souls and began to smash the left side of his forehead against it and continued shouting. After a while he stopped, bent over on the ground and breathing hard, his hand back on his forehead.

"What was that?" Flynn asked. Matt stood up slowly and turned to look at them. He had hit his head so hard that he was bleeding. The blood was running down over his shadow eye and past the left side of his mouth, but he didn't move to wipe it away.

"Nothing." He said. "I had a little conflict, that's all." He twisted his neck and flicked a little bang of hair away from the bloody patch. Julie had regained her composure during all of the shouting. She was staring at the wound on Matt's head.

"That looks bad…" She said. "I should treat it…" She moved closer and reached into the little pouch at her waist that carried the first-aid gear she had begun to carry last year for just-in-case moments-and also in case this happened again.

"Don't worry about it." He said, and as he spoke, the wound closed and the blood stopped flowing. While they were still staring, he turned, inserted the key into the Vault door, and threw it open.

The souls began to pour out as they had last year, blowing past them all in a fierce whirlwind. It didn't last too long, though, and now they stood there with an empty black abyss in front of them. The vault door slammed shut of its own accord. Helen stirred behind them and sat up.

"What's going on? How did I get here?" She asked. Matt turned to speak and she freaked out. "What are YOU doing here?!? You…you… you murder! You beast!"

Matt frowned. "That's nice. I only just saved your skin from being possessed for all eternity, and you say that?"

"Well, I, uh, that is to say, uh… oh blast it! I don't have to explain myself! You slaughtered an entire village of innocent people! What am I supposed to say?!?"

Matt opened his mouth, cringed, and began to hold the left side of his head again. "Someone else fill her in. I cannot." And he walked away from them, though still within visual range, and sat down. Helen looked at him disdainfully.

"Why did he come here?" She asked.

"Because I asked him to." Drake said, though now, he felt a pang of regret that he had. The complaints that he had raised had tinged his respect for Matt with a little dislike. The fact that Matt had never answered made the dislike even stronger. And then there was the notion that Matt was playing them with an act of intense pain… Drake didn't like it.

"And why would you do that?" Helen asked.

"Well, originally it was to help Flynn, but then the fiends arrived… and we needed him for that. Didn't Bentz tell you what happened last year?" Drake asked.

"Well, yes, but-"

"Whatever happened to him?" Julie asked.

"Who?"

"Bentz."

Drake swallowed hard and it looked like Keith and Flynn did as well. "He, uh…"

"He was killed." Flynn said. A tear ran down Julie's cheek.

"Oh…" She turned away. Helen looked simply dumbfounded.

"The Chancellor was killed?" She asked. "How?"

"Well, he was impaled multiple times." Keith said.

"Do you realize what this means?" Helen said. Everyone shook their heads. "The American Academy is pretty much finished. After two chancellors die in two years, and events like this keep happening, no one will want to send their children here. We'll have to close. Lots of people will be put out of jobs."

"That's a problem we'll have to deal with later." Flynn said, assuming the leadership role in Matt's temporary absence. "Right now, we need to get out of here. We need to figure out who the leader is this time, and stop him. But before that, we need to either get you-" He looked pointedly at Helen. "-to a safe place, or you'll have to come with us. You probably aren't safe on your own, but with us it's likely that you'll be even less safe. Though we do have a pretty good causality rate… hahaha…"

"What are you talking about? You have a one in six death rate." Helen pointed out.

"Fair point. But that's only because we never gave Bentz a gun…hmm… why didn't we?"

"Because none of us thought of it." Keith said. Drake nodded.

"Well, I'm thinking about it." Flynn grabbed a rifle off the ground. "Here. And please don't shoot any of us with it." He handed it to Helen. She reached out and took it, looked at Matt, aimed, and pulled the trigger before they could do anything about it. The bullets connected and Matt was sent sprawling forward before being engulfed in a puff of smoke. When the smoke cleared Matt wasn't there. The bullets had torn through a tree stump that had appeared from nowhere.

"That wasn't particularly nice." Came a voice from behind them. They turned around and saw Matt standing behind them, a book held open between the thumb and fingers of his left hand, looking thoroughly unconcerned. He shut the book and slipped it into a pocket of the vest he wore under his cloak. Helen looked dumbfounded again.

"How did you… what did you… what are you?" She asked.

"A ninja." Matt said. "Guess I remember three ninja techniques. That one's just so basic I never think about it."

"That was cool!" Keith said. "Why can't you teach us this stuff?"

"Takes too long. I'll get you into the ninja program after this if your still interested." Matt said. "What are we doing? Are we going to take this…" He looked at Helen with disgust. "…this…jerk with us?"

"Well, I suppose." Flynn said. "If you don't object?"

"As long as she doesn't try to shoot me again, I'm fine with it. You aren't going to shoot me again, are you?" He asked, his shadow eye bearing down on Helen. The fact that it was still covered in blood made it that much more ominous.

"Er, uh… no, I guess not…" She said.

"Good, then let's go." Matt said, and began to walk down the hall and past his tree stump. The others quickly followed.

They didn't encounter anything on the way out, which gave Drake plenty of time to think. He had known Matt for a little more than a year now, and he had always respected him. He hadn't acted any different last year, why was he now starting to question Matt's methods?

_Ah,_ a little voice inside his head said. _You did question them last year, didn't you? _Drake thought about it. He remembered getting angry at Matt at least once for putting Julie out on a platter for the fiends to grab, but he hadn't questioned Matt's ways. Or had he? He couldn't remember.

"Stop." Came Matt's voice from the front. Drake broke out of his train of thought and listened. "Just ahead of us there's a few more of those big fiends. They're in between us and the gate out of here. We need an effective battle plan so we can take them down with less trouble than last time."

Drake nodded. The last time they had encountered those things it had been an absolute fiasco.

"Where do you think they came from?" Keith said. "I've never seen a fiend that big before."

"I would assume that they came out of the fourth gate. It's likely that they aren't really fiends, but some sort of relation. Anyway, any ideas?"

"Well, you could just run in there and take them all down." Drake said.

"Not a good idea if you want me coming back to you in one piece."

"Shouldn't they have some kind of weak point?" Keith suggested. "After all, the other fiends had a weak spot."

"Not the shadows." Julie pointed out.

"We haven't seen many of those, though."

"It's possible, but how are we to figure out the weak point if we have this limited information?" Flynn said.

"Just look at what they protect." Keith said. "If you haven't noticed, all of the normal fiends always have their hands near their heads. And the hounds have those frills that protect their necks. So let's see…" Keith moved up next to Matt and stared at the fiends. "I'd guess that they are probably weak somewhere around their abdomen. Look, they're holding their hands down in front of it."

"I can see a little orb-type thing in their stomach." Matt said, his right eye closed. "I would guess that's the weak spot you're looking for Keith. Besides, it's glowing in my eye."

"What orb? I can't see it." Flynn said.

"Nor can I." Keith said.

"That must be it then." Drake said. "If they protect it so much that you can't see it… but that also kind of stops the plan from working."

"Shoot their hands?" Julie suggested.

"They look armor plated." Keith said. "I doubt it would do much, if anything."

"Hmm…" Helen set herself to thinking. "What if… someone went out there to draw them in? Wouldn't that cause them to raise their hands and provide a clear target?"

"Likely." Matt said. "Not certain, but likely. But it's all we've got. Let's go." He jumped out in front of them.

"Where are you going?" Julie asked.

"To set the trap." He said. He positioned himself in clear sight of the monster fiends, but out of the way of the other's targeting sights. "Hello there, gents." He shouted.

_Idiot,_ Drake thought. _He's going to get himself killed! We're not ready yet!_ Drake locked his rifle into position and took careful aim. Weapons cocked all around him. The fiends were really dim-witted- they had only just noticed Matt.

"Get him!" one of them said in a very garbled accent. Matt lazily reached into his cloak, withdrew his book, and began to read, apparently oblivious to the fiends running at him. Drake could see it now- a little black sphere in the center of the beast's stomach. He leveled his rifle on it and pulled the trigger… the gun jammed!

"Oh, come on, why now?" Drake muttered, and whacked the gun. Apparently the others were having similar troubles, because similar comments of general frustration were muttered and guns were being smacked around. For a moment Drake felt a little concern for Matt and looked up.

Matt was effortlessly moving out of the way of the monsters' attacks without so much as looking up from the page. Drake could tell the monster fiends were getting aggravated with his apparent disinterest in them, because their attacks were getting wilder. One of the fiends swung so hard that he smacked his companion in the stomach- smashing the orb! The whacked fiend's eyes blew up to the size of dinner plates (Drake couldn't believe how big they got) and fell over, obviously dead. Another fiend pushed the first fiend, and they began to fight. Soon, Matt was standing bemusedly next to a pile of dead bodies, all killed by each other.

"That was amusing." He said, and put his book away.

"What, the fiends killing each other?" Flynn said, emerging from the little alcove he had been in.

"Yes."

Everyone stood up. "Shall we?" Keith said, and gestured toward the portal out.

"I couldn't agree more." Helen said. "I hate this place." She stepped through the portal. Drake followed her.


	26. A Little Detour

Chapter 26- A Little Detour

Drake sat up and looked around. All he could see was brown. And it was very warm; the air was thick with heat and humidity.

_Strange,_ he thought. _There isn't any brown at the Academy… and why is it so hot in here? Did something go wrong? Where is everyone?_

"Drake." A voice whispered in his ear. Drake jumped and spun around as fast as he could. Matt had crawled up behind him. "Something went wrong. There are no volcanoes on the Duel Academy Island."

"Volcano?!?" Drake said. "We're sitting in a volcano?"

"Yes, now chill out. We need to get out of here. The others came out a little farther over there." Matt got to his feet and began to walk. Drake hopped up and followed him. The others were lying unconscious on the ground a few yards away. Matt knelt down next to Flynn and shook him awake. Drake moved over toward Julie and began to shake her. She sat bolt upright as soon as he touched and aimed her rifle at his head.

"Oh, it's you." She looked around. "Where are we, and what is with that red light coming from over there?"

"We're in a volcano." Drake said.

"WHAT?!?"

"Keep your voice down, I'm right next to you!" Drake said, rubbing his ears. "I need those to hear."

"We're sitting in a volcano! What if it erupts?"

"It won't." Matt said. He had woken everyone else. "I can feel that this volcano won't erupt for some time now."

"How…?"

"Don't ask. I've never understood it myself."

"But that really doesn't matter." Keith pointed out. "We're trapped in here, and if we can't get out, we'll either die from hunger or from all of this ash getting in our lungs."

"Keith's right." Helen said. "I don't see a way out."

"Yes…except through the top." Flynn said, looking up. "But the walls are pretty tall and they slant inwards; it would be incredibly difficult for anyone to climb all that way…"

"Yes, you're right." Matt said. "There are no easy ways out, so we'll have to create one."

"What do you mean? Go through the wall?" Keith said. He knocked on the rock wall next to him. "I don't think we can. It feels extremely thick."

Matt placed his hand on the wall. "It's very thick. Hmm…" He stepped away from the wall. "Get away. I'm going to try something." Everyone ran away from the wall, behind Matt. Matt stretched his arms out in front of him, palms out toward the wall. His eyes narrowed as he focused on the wall. Blue energy streams started seeping out of his arms. Sweat beaded on his forehead. The streams began to move about, reaching, as if they were searching for something. They stretched out, further and further, until they stopped abruptly. Matt was groaning.

"Come on… please, just once more… I've lost my touch…tch… come on, once more…" And with what seemed to be an incredible amount of effort, the streams began to reach again. They passed over Drake's head and dove into the pool of lava that was just behind them. The blue streams swam around on top of the lava for a while, then dove deeper in. The blue streams re-emerged and flew at the wall Matt was focused on. Then, seconds later, the lava followed the streams and began to beat on the wall. Sweat was pouring off of Matt's face. The lava continued to beat on the wall and eventually the rock simply melted away. After a few minutes the lava had completely melted through the wall. It ran back along the blue streams and back into the hole it had come from. Matt, apparently exhausted, fell face down on the ground.

"Matt!" Julie said, and ran to his side. Drake wasn't so concerned, but he followed the others to Matt. Slowly and with a great deal of help from Julie, Matt rolled over and sat up. He looked incredibly weak, Drake didn't think he had ever seen him in such bad condition, apart from seeing him chained to a wall and bleeding last year.

"What was that?" Flynn asked. Matt wiped the sweat from his forehead and tried to stand up. With some help from Julie (and a little extra from Keith) he got to his feet.

"When you go in to become a ninja, they attempt to determine your elemental affinity to determine what to train you in. I was fire, by far. I had this great natural ability to manipulate fire, even early in my career. I could form it out of the molecules in the air and move it about with great ability. Now, at the end, it's hard for me. I can barely do it with a ready source, I can't do it at all if I have no fire. Told you I've gotten a lot weaker."

"Save your energy." Julie said. "You're shaking."

"We need to get going…" Matt said, and tried to walk towards the hole he had created. He fell over after only a few feet.

"Stop moving!" Julie said. "You're exhausted. You need to rest."

"Can't afford to…" Matt said, standing up unsteadily. "We need to get out of here… it's not safe." He began to walk forward. Everyone followed him out into the light.

A light breeze was blowing outside. The sky was clear and the weather was warm and pleasant. They were standing on a beach that spread out to either side and curved around the base of the volcano. The water in front of them was crystal clear.

"Where is this?" Julie said.

"It's beautiful…" Helen said.

"Hmm…I've been here before…" Matt said. "Once before… when was it? Almost three years ago."

"Where are we?" Flynn said.

"This is Hawaii, I think." Matt said. "I don't know which island, but it's somewhere in Hawaii."

"How'd we get here?" Drake asked. "Should we have come out through the gate we entered in?"

"Usually, yes… but it seems that the mastermind is manipulating the gates, and sending us to different places. I wouldn't trust using those gates anymore."

"Why did we trust them in the first place?" Keith asked.

"Because we had no choice." Flynn said.

"True."

"Hey, you fools!"

Drake spun around. Four fiends, standing side-by-side, were facing them. "What do you idiots want?" Drake said.

"What else but to take your souls!" said one of them. "So… just for a change of pace, let's do this duel four-on-four! We'll be choosing which of you will lose first! One at a time, brothers!"

"Fine!" said a second fiend. "You, boy in red- you're mine!"

"You, woman! You shall duel!" said a third.

"You, little girl! You will fight as well!" said the fourth.

"And finally, you, big guy with the gold jacket, your mine!" said the first.

Drake, Helen, Julie, and Flynn stepped forward. "We'll destroy you." Flynn said.

"Yeah, you're no match for us." Julie said.

"We'll see about that!" said the first fiend.

"Let's duel!"

Drake: 4000 

**Julie: 4000**

**Flynn: 4000**

**Helen: 4000**

**First Fiend: 4000**

**Second Fiend: 4000**

**Third Fiend: 4000**

**Fourth Fiend: 4000**

_This is huge, _Drake thought. _This could be treacherous. If someone gets weak, they'll be in for a whole heap of trouble._

"And now, to explain the rules!" The first fiend said. "No one is allowed to share monsters, defend their partners, or discuss strategy. Any of this will result in the immediate death of the offender, as well as the loss of the person they tried to help! Also, there is absolutely no attacking on the first turn."

_Damn it,_ Drake thought. _I'll bet they plan on picking off Julie, no matter what happens to them! We're going to have to work hard._

"Are you done?" Flynn said.

"Yes."

"Then I'll start this duel." Flynn drew a card. "Hmm… not particularly good. I'll set a monster and end my turn."

"Is that all you've got?" said the first fiend. He drew a card. "Ha! You life grows short already! I'm going to set a monster in defense mode with an extra card facedown! That is all!"

"I'll go next!" Helen said. She drew a card "Hmm… I set a monster in defense mode and a card facedown! That will be all."

"Then it's to me!" said the second fiend. He drew a card. "I'll also set a monster, and end my turn!"

"Then it's my turn!" Drake said. He drew a card "I'll set a monster too, with two more facedowns! That will be all."

"Then it's my turn!" said the third fiend. He drew a card and smiled evilly. "Yes… this will do. I will set a monster in defense mode, and add a facedown card! That will be all for now."

"Then I'll round out our turns!" Julie said. She drew and smiled. "I play Dark World Lightning! Now, I'll destroy the third fiend's facedown monster with it!"

"Ha, you fool!" the fiend said. "That was my Sand Moth, and when it's destroyed while facedown by your card effect, I get to special summon it, in attack mode, with its attack and defense reversed! So say hello! (Earth/Rock/Effect, 2000/1000)"

"Grr… now by Lightning's effect I get to discard one card from my hand!"

"You act like that's a privilege!" said the second fiend.

Julie smiled. "Well for me it is, since the card I'll be discarding is Sillva, Warlord of Dark World."

"Oh no!"

"Yes, and now I can special summon him! (Dark/Fiend/Effect, 2300/1400) Now, I'll set a monster in defense mode and end my turn."

"And now I'll end this round." Said the fourth fiend. He drew a card. "Hmm… let's see here. I think I'll set a monster in defense mode, that's all."

"When he ends his turn, I'll use my trap card!" said the third fiend. "Rock Bombardment! Now, by sending one Rock-type monster from my deck to my graveyard, I can inflict 500 points of damage to one player! So, I think I'll send a Giant Soldier of Stone from my deck to the graveyard, and I'll do 500 damage to you, little missy!"

Drake: 4000 

**Julie: 3500**

**Flynn: 4000**

**Helen: 4000**

**First Fiend: 4000**

**Second Fiend: 4000**

**Third Fiend: 4000**

**Fourth Fiend: 4000**

Julie screamed. Drake's face twisted into a snarl. _I knew it! They're going to try and take her out! And if that caused her as much pain as it sounded like, there's something else going on here…_

"Hehehe…" said the first fiend. "So you are the first to experience our Shadow Game!"

"What is it this time?" Flynn said.

"Hehehehe… the game this time will affect something extremely important to your survival… your hearts! Whenever you lose life points, a restraining force placed on your heart will begin to tighten and make it more difficult for your heart to beat!"

"You animals…" Helen said. "That's disgusting!"

"You don't know that half of it." Drake told her. "These guys take pleasure in thinking up horrible tortures to use in Shadow Games. Julie, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I was just surprised." She said. She had paled just a little bit.

"Enough talk!" said the second fiend.

"Yes! Gold fool, take your turn!" said the third.

"Fine then!" Flynn drew a card. "Let's see how you like your own game turned on you! I summon the Lord of Dragons (Dark/Spellcaster/Effect, 1200/1100)! And with him on the field, I can activate my Flute of Summoning Dragon! Now, I'll use it to call forth a Luster Dragon (Wind/Dragon, 1900/1600) and a Blue-Eyes White Dragon (Light/Dragon, 3000/2500)! Next, I'll flip summon my facedown Luster Dragon! Now, Luster Dragon, attack the fourth fiend's facedown monster!"

"Ha! That was my Penguin Soldier! Because he was flipped, I'm now allowed to return up to two monsters on the field to the owner's hand!"

"Too bad that won't save you."

"What?"

"You can't target my dragons with it!"

"Curses… I'll choose to target both of the little girl's monsters then!"

_Damn it! _Drake thought. _If they do that, she won't be able to defend herself for a long time! We'll need to mow down monsters at a high speed so she doesn't get dropped like my first hour French class!_ The same thought seemed to have occurred to Julie because she looked rather panicked.

"What am I going to do?" she asked Drake.

"Hold it! You can't discuss that." The first fiend said.

"Damn it…" Drake hissed.

"Chill out Drake." Flynn said. "We can take one of them down right now. An I'm going to hope that your facedown cards will help?"

Drake nodded a little, so little that it was impossible to see. He was pretty sure this was illegal, according to the rules of the duel. Flynn turned his attention back to the duel.

"Okay, number four maggot, time to take a little trip." He said. "Blue-Eyes and Lord of D., obliterate the fourth fiend!"

Drake: 4000 

**Julie: 3500**

**Flynn: 4000**

**Helen: 4000**

**First Fiend: 4000**

**Second Fiend: 4000**

**Third Fiend: 4000**

**Fourth Fiend: 0**

"Yeah Flynn!" Keith said. "They're up!"

"In points, yes… but not in poise." Matt said. "The fiends seem unaffected by their own game, but if they lose a single point… it's not good."

"Good point…"

"Now, Luster Dragon, destroy the first fiend's monster!"

"I use my trap card, Backfire! Now, whenever you destroy a fire-attribute monster on my side of the field, you lose 500 points! And the monster you just attacked was… The Thing in the Crater!"

Drake: 4000 

**Julie: 3500**

**Flynn: 3500**

**Helen: 4000**

**First Fiend: 4000**

**Second Fiend: 4000**

**Third Fiend: 4000**

"Grr…ngh…" Flynn clutched at his heart. "That's not cool."

"And what's even worse is that now I can special summon any Pyro-Type monster from my hand! So, I'll bring out my Flame Cerberus (Fire/Pyro, 2100/1800) in attack mode! Are you done yet, you fool?"

"Yes, unfortunately I am."

"Ha! One of your number will not survive this round!" The Pyro fiend drew a card. "Just what I wanted! I remove The Thing in the Crater from my Graveyard to Special Summon Inferno (Fire/Pyro/Effect, 1100/1900) in attack mode!"

"Why would you want such a weak monster in attack mode?" Drake asked.

"You'll soon find out! Now I summon Blazing Inpachi (Fire/Pyro, 1850/0) in attack mode! And to round it off, I'll activate my Molten Destruction Field Spell!" All of a sudden, the volcano behind them erupted.

"I thought you said that that volcano wasn't going to erupt!" Keith said.

"It wasn't going to! It's the Shadow Game, it's causing the volcano to alter the field!" Matt said. Lava started leaking across the duel field.

"Now that we're in this lovely environment, all Fire-Attribute monsters gain 500 attack points and lose 400 defense points! So now my Cerberus has 2600, my Inpachi has 2350, and my Inferno has 1600! And that will be more than enough to kill someone! Finally, I activate my Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy one of the red guy's facedown cards!"

"Damn it…" Drake said. _That was the one I needed!_

"Now, Flame Cerberus, attack Sillva!"

Drake: 4000 

**Julie: 3200**

**Flynn: 3500**

**Helen: 4000**

**First Fiend: 4000**

**Second Fiend: 4000**

**Third Fiend: 4000**

Julie had a little coughing fit and spat out a small amount of blood. Her face was losing color. "Now, Inferno, attack her facedown monster!" The Inferno's flames melted through Julie's monster.

"Good thing it was in defense…" she wheezed. "And it was Scarr, Scout of Dark World, who allows me to add a level four or lower Dark World monster to my hand. I'll take out Bron, the Mad King."

"It doesn't matter! For when Inferno destroys a monster, the controller loses 1500 life points!"

"NO!" Drake said. _That's too many!_ Flames leapt up around Julie. Her eyes widened in surprise for a moment, and the screaming began. It finally stopped, with Julie on her hands and knees, still smoking from the fire, coughing up blood at a ridiculous rate.

Drake: 4000 

**Julie: 1700**

**Flynn: 3500**

**Helen: 4000**

**First Fiend: 4000**

**Second Fiend: 4000**

**Third Fiend: 4000**

"I'm not done yet! Blazing Inpachi, finish off this weakling!"

Drake: 4000 

**Julie: 0**

**Flynn: 3500**

**Helen: 4000**

**First Fiend: 4000**

**Second Fiend: 4000**

**Third Fiend: 4000**

Julie began to scream so loud that Drake thought he would not hear anything ever again for the rest of his life. And then slowly, slowly, she fell to the ground and lay immobile, quiet. She was dead.


	27. Beat Up and Broken Down

Chapter 27- Beat Up and Broken Down

Drake watched Julie fall and felt a stabbing pain in his own heart that had nothing to do with the Shadow Game. _No…_ He thought. _She can't be… she couldn't have…_ _no!_ Slowly Drake fell to his knees, feeling hopeless. He knew she was dead, there was no reason trying to deny it. And now that she was, he couldn't feel anymore. Not the soft breeze, not the heat from the lava, not the weight of his duel disk and cards. Julie was dead, and life for Drake had lost some meaning.

"No…" Flynn said. "This isn't good."

"Ha! I told you one of your number would be going down." Said the first fiend smugly. "I'm done, and so are you!"

Drake: 4000 

**Flynn: 3500**

**Helen: 4000**

**First Fiend: 4000**

**Second Fiend: 4000**

**Third Fiend: 4000**

"It's… it's my turn." Helen said, tearing up a little. "I'll… flip my Man-Eater Bug, which will destroy the Flame Cerebus with its special effect."

"Don't forget that because of my Backfire card, you take 500 damage!"

Drake: 4000 

**Flynn: 3500**

**Helen: 3500**

**First Fiend: 4000**

**Second Fiend: 4000**

**Third Fiend: 4000**

"Aaaaaugh…fine…I'll sacrifice my Bug for the Ultimate Insect Lv. 5 (Wind/Insect/Effect, 2300/900) in attack mode and activate my Forest Spell Card. This not only removes your Molten Destruction Spell…" The lava that had come from the volcano receded into the ground. Trees began to spring up around them. "…and reduces the attack of all your fire monsters, but it also grants all of my insects 200 extra attack points. (2500) Go, Ultimate Insect, destroy his Inferno."

Drake: 4000 

**Flynn: 3500**

**Helen: 3500**

**First Fiend: 2600**

**Second Fiend: 4000**

**Third Fiend: 4000**

"Again you take damage from the Backfire!"

Drake: 4000 

**Flynn: 3500**

**Helen: 3000**

**First Fiend: 2600**

**Second Fiend: 4000**

**Third Fiend: 4000**

"I'll end my turn there."

"Fine then! That makes it my turn." The second fiend drew a card. "Let's see… I'll sacrifice my Mega Thunderball and summon Zaborg the Thunder Monarch (Light/Thunder/Effect, 2400/1000)! And when he's tribute summoned successfully, I'm allowed to destroy one monster on the field! So, the 'Ultimate Insect' is histroy!"

"No! That was my only monster."

"Yes it was, and now I'll use Zaborg's awesome might to attack your life points directly!"

Drake: 4000 

**Flynn: 3500**

**Helen: 600**

**First Fiend: 2600**

**Second Fiend: 4000**

**Third Fiend: 4000**

Helen screamed and grabbed the center of her chest. The fiend smirked. "That will be all. It's time for the red guy to go."

Drake didn't respond. As far as he was concerned, he was no longer a part of the duel. He didn't want anything to do with life anymore. He wanted to just curl up into a corner and die. Then at least he could join Julie. _I… I can't go on. I guess that one Linkin Park song is true… it is Easier to Run. And if I try to help…_

_You'll fail._ Said the voice in his head.

"Drake!" came a voice from outside his head. "It's your turn! You need to go!"

_I can't, _Drake thought._ I'm not good enough. I failed Julie and I would fail you guys too… I'm sorry._

"Drake! Come on, we need you now!" came another voice.

_No, I can't._

Flynn and Helen looked at each other. It was clear that Julie's death had hit him hard. And they had no idea what to do about it. "Fine, we'll just skip Drake for now!" Flynn said.

"Ha! It will be the last mistake you make!" The third fiend said. He drew a card. "I'm going to set another monster in defense mode, and then destroy that annoying Lord of D. with my powered-up Sand Moth!"

Drake: 4000 

**Flynn: 2700**

**Helen: 600**

**First Fiend: 2600**

**Second Fiend: 4000**

**Third Fiend: 4000**

Flynn groaned and fell to one knee. "Is that the best you've got?"

"No, but you won't see my best yet. For now, I'll simply set a card and end my turn."

"Very well." Flynn drew a card. "Ugh. I can't draw right now. But I can at least pick away at someone. Blue-Eyes, attack Zaborg!"

"I activate my trap card, Widespread Ruin!" said the third fiend. "When you attack, this card allows me to destroy the monster with the highest attack on the field! So your precious Blue-Eyes is gone!"

"This isn't good." Matt said. "They may be even on numbers, but they are very down on life points, and the fiends are working quite well together. Actually, they don't even have even numbers, because Drake is having problems dueling."

"Yeah, I've never seen him like this." Keith said. "It kind of hurts."

"I know what you mean, especially since Helen and Flynn are going to suffer for it."

"Grr…" Flynn said. "I'm not done! I attack your Blazing Inpachi with Luster Dragon!"

Drake: 4000 

**Flynn: 2700**

**Helen: 600**

**First Fiend: 2550**

**Second Fiend: 4000**

**Third Fiend: 4000**

"And now you too will take Backfire damage!"

Drake: 4000 

**Flynn: 2200**

**Helen: 600**

**First Fiend: 2550**

**Second Fiend: 4000**

**Third Fiend: 4000**

"Grr… I'll end my turn."

"And then I will begin mine!" The first fiend said. He drew a card. "Hmm… let's see… I don't have any monsters any more because you pests keep destroying them. Of course, you've paid the points, so that's fine. I can destroy you soon… I'll set a monster in defense mode and end my turn."

"Fine then." Helen said weakly. "It's my turn… I'll…ugh… play Monster Reborn, to bring back my Ultimate Insect Level 5. Then, I'll activate Level Up!. Now I can sacrifice my insect and summon its most powerful form, the Ultimate Insect Level 7 (Wind/Insect/Effect, 2600/1200)! And because of the Forest, it gets a little boost… (2800) Now, Ultimate Insect, attack Zaborg!"

Drake: 4000 

**Flynn: 2200**

**Helen: 600**

**First Fiend: 2550**

**Second Fiend: 3600**

**Third Fiend: 4000**

"Now I'll end my turn."

"And this will start mine!" said the second fiend. "You may have destroyed my monster, but I can still kill you!" He drew a card. "But not with this! I'll have to set a monster and end my turn."

"Drake, it's your turn!" Flynn said. "Stand up and make a move!"

_I can't. I don't want to let anyone down._

"Make your move or you'll damn us all!"

"DRAKE!"

Drake sat bolt upright. A huge voice that sounded like a conglomerate of hundreds of voices had shouted at him. Matt was speaking.

"What the hell are you doing? Do you have no pride? Do you have no backbone? Get up and fight! Don't just give up! You can do this! Julie wouldn't want you to go down like this!"

And for some reason, Drake didn't doubt it. Maybe it was because he thought he heard Julie's voice somewhere in there. "Alright." He said, and stood up. "I think I can pull this out… yeah, this will do." He drew a card. "Woah! What a draw! First I'll flip summon my monster, the Skilled Dark Magician (Dark/Spellcaster/Effect, 1900/1700). Then I'll activate the potent spell card, Raigeki!"

"No! That card destroys all of our monsters!" said the third fiend.

"Yep, I like a clean house." Drake said. "For the sake of preperation, I'll set two cards facedown. Then I'll activate the spell Card of Sanctity! Time to even things up, everyone draw up to six cards!" Everyone did. "And with that, I should pawn you. Thanks Flynn."

"Uh, sure. What did I do? Oh, wait… I know."

"Yep. So first, I activate the Spell Card Polymerization! This card allows me to fuse the Dark Magician and the Buster Blader in my hand to form Dark Paladin, the Ultimate Magical Swordman (Dark/Spellcaster/Fusion/Effect, 2900/2400)! And thanks to Flynn's dragons, he gets a few more points, that is, 500 for every dragon. And Flynn has three, so that's 1500 more points, giving him 4400!"

"No!" The first fiend said. "That's enough to take any of us out!"

"Correct, but that's not what I'm going for. I'm going to blast all of you!" Drake said. "Now I'll play my next card, Monster Reborn! This will bring back the Dark Magician! Now, I activate Knight's Title! I'll sacrifice him to special summon Dark Magician Knight (Dark/Warrior/Effect, 2500/2100) from my deck! This destroys one of your cards, not that it matters!"

"No!"

"Now I'm going to sacrifice the Skilled Magician to revive my Dark Magician (Dark/Spellcaster, 2500/2100) again! Next, I'll activate my Call of the Haunted trap card! Using it, I'll bring back Buster Blader (Earth/Warrior/Effect, 2600/2300), who will now gain attack for Flynn's dragons as well! (4100)"

"No! That's not good!" said the second fiend. "We're all doomed!"

"Dark Paladin, take out the third fiend!"

Drake: 4000 

**Flynn: 2200**

**Helen: 600**

**First Fiend: 2550**

**Second Fiend: 3600**

**Third Fiend: 0**

"Now, Buster Blader, take out the second fiend!"

Drake: 4000 

**Flynn: 2200**

**Helen: 600**

**First Fiend: 2550**

**Second Fiend: 0**

**Third Fiend: 0**

"And finally, Dark Magician and Dark Magician Knight! Finish the first fiend!"

Drake: 4000 

**Flynn: 2200**

**Helen: 600**

First Fiend: 0 

**Second Fiend: 0**

**Third Fiend: 0**

All of the fiends exploded.

"We did it! We won!" Flynn said.

"Thank God." Keith said.

Helen, exhausted and in pain from the loss of most of her life points, collapsed. Matt ran to her side and checked for vital signs. "She's okay, just tired."

Drake turned away. Helen had made it, Julie had not. He knew he should be happy that he had won, but the place that was usually filled with the thrill of victory was filled with the agonizing loss.


	28. Some Good Fortune and Some Bad

Chapter 28- Some Good Fortune, and Some Bad

Matt's eyes widened and he ran to Julie's side. With little ado, he rolled her body over and checked her vital signs.

"By God, she's alive!" He shouted.

Drake's heart leapt. She was alive?!? But, how? Drake jumped up and ran to her side. "How?"

"I don't have that faintest idea! But she's fading fast… her heart has too much stress on it. It's beating at an extremely slow rate." Matt tore open Julie's jacket, placed both of his hands over her heart, and began to press down.

"What are you doing?" Keith said.

"I'm trying to get her heart to beat by artificially pumping it. CPR and stuff, you know!" Matt said.

"When did you learn that?" Flynn said.

"When I was about 17, I joined the army and I was a medic for about three years, during that war. I learned almost everything I know about medical stuff during that time, except for a small amount that I got in my ninja times, but that was all herbal-based." Matt checked Julie's vitals again.

"How is she?" Drake said.

"This isn't good." He said. "She's going into cardiac arrest; her breathing for the most part has stopped, and her heartbeat is falling slowly. If we don't do something quick, she'll die."

"What are we going to do?"

"Would it help if we found a hospital?" Helen asked. She seemed very concerned.

"Yeah, that would be good." Matt said. He picked up Julie's body and threw it over his shoulder. "Where do you suggest we go?"

"There's a city over here!" Flynn said, standing atop a hill. Matt ran past Flynn so fast that even though he never touched Flynn, Flynn fell over. "Whoa!"

Drake ran to the top of the hill to see a huge cloud of smoke marking Matt's trail. He began to follow, and heard the others behind him. They followed the wake of destruction made by Matt's insane speed and found him in a hospital, laying Julie on a bed.

"Good, you caught up." He said. "Just…don't do anything unless I tell you too, and if I do, move!" He tore open the top of Julie's shirt, flipped a switch on a machine, and grabbed two huge pad-type things.

"What are those things?" Drake said. "What are you doing?"

"Haven't you watched any of those stupid medical shows? This is a defibrillator, it's meant to prevent cardiac arrest. Someone stand by the machine!" Flynn stepped closer. "Turn the knob to 100 joules!" Flynn cranked the knob to 100. Matt pressed the huge pads to Julie's skin. There was the sound of charging power, then a thump, and Julie's body jumped. "Chikushou…"

"What?" Drake said. "What's wrong?!?"

Matt shook his head and pressed the pads down again. There was the charging sound, another thump, and Julie's body jumped again. "Chikushou! Flynn, turn it to 200 joules!" Flynn did so. Matt pressed the pads down again. The machine charged again, gave off another _thump_, and Julie's body jumped again. A bead of sweat leaked out from under Matt's headband.

"CHIKUSHOU! Flynn! 300 joules!" Flynn cranked the knob farther to the right.

"What's wrong?!?" Drake said.

"It's not working, why do you think I'm so aggravated!?!" Matt said. He pressed the pads down again. There was no sound. Matt's eyes widened. "Oh, shit… not good!"

"What happened?" Keith said.

"We don't have enough power! Something must have gone wrong with the power when the fiends attacked! And now there isn't enough to give a 300 joule shock out! Why now?!?" Matt said. His eyes began to dart around the room. "There has to be something… Keith! Helen! Run downstairs and check the power stuff! See if anything's been destroyed and be quick about it!" Keith threw open the door and dashed out, closely followed by Helen. Matt continued to curse under his breath. Drake was scared.

_She's going to die! _He thought. _We don't have enough power to shock her heart back into rhythm! And if Keith and Helen can't find anything wrong that we can fix…_ Keith burst through the door.

"The power connection has been fried! We can't get anything from the power plant, we're running on the emergency generator, and that thing is smoking like crazy!" He said.

"Chikushou…" Matt hissed. His eyes focused on his hands for a moment. "Flynn, drop the power to 250 joules!" Flynn turned the knob again. "Come on… work…" Matt pressed down again. The machine charged, gave another _thump_, and Julie's body jumped again. This time, however, Julie gagged and began to breathe again. Matt's hand went to her Adam's apple for her pulse. His face relaxed. "She's fine…"

"Thank God…" Drake said. "Did it work?"

"Huh? What? Oh, yeah." Matt said.

_That was strange._ Drake thought. _Why was he so distracted? He looks tired now… much more tired than that should have made him! I thought I saw something on that last shock, but what was it?_

"Keith, Flynn, Helen. Go check and see if there's any food around here. Drake, take a break. You've been under a lot of stress lately." Matt said. Keith, Flynn and Helen went out the door. Drake fell into a seat near the door. He was relieved that Julie was safe, but he was suspicious about Matt. Had he done more than had met the eye? He could have sworn that there was a very faint greenish aura around Matt's hands during the last shock.

Matt flopped down into a chair across from Drake and looked into Drake's eyes. "I'm exhausted."

"How can you say that? You've hardly done anything!" Drake said.

"What.. did you say?" Matt said quietly. His voice was filled with venom.

"You haven't done anything! All you do is sit back and let us take the beating!"

"It is not advisable to disrespect someone who can kill you in an instant…or has saved your life before." Matt said

"Prove it!"

"If I had not helped you out, you would have been easily overwhelmed during the first invasion by the fiends. Furthermore, you would have been killed by the hounds at the very beginning of the second invasion if I hadn't stopped them all. And also, I have saved your lives countless times with my knowledge of medicine. What do you have to say to that?"

"I…uh…we…uh…you keep putting us in life-or-death situations! You said you could see the future!"

"I said I could predict future events with a certain degree of accuracy. That doesn't mean I can prevent them."

"But…but…you said you saw almost all of these things coming!"

"Did you ever stop to consider that maybe that was the best way to get through it?"

Drake opened his mouth, then shut it. No, he hadn't thought about that. "That's not the point!"

Just then, Keith came bursting through the door. He was so loud that Julie sat bolt upright, looking dazed.

"What happened? Shouldn't I be dead?" she mused.

"Don't worry about that!" Keith said. "We have a problem!"

"What is it?" Drake said standing up.

"Look outside."

Drake pulled back the curtain from the window. Spread out before the hospital was a massive array of fiends, and they were pounding on the hospital door. "They've found us!"


	29. Futile Escape

Chapter 29- Futile Escape

"Not good." Matt said, and pulled the curtain shut. "Where are Flynn and Helen?"

"Stacking stuff against the door." Keith said. "How are we going to get out of this?"

"No idea."

Julie tried to get out of her bed, winced and laid back down. "I guess you'll have to do it without me…I can't get up."

"Don't say that!" Drake said. "We can't just leave you behind!" Flynn and Helen came in, sweating profusely.

"There's nothing left to stack against the door, and they're still coming!" Flynn said. "I'd give us about five minutes before they break through."

"That's not nearly enough time!" Keith said.

"He's right." Matt said. "We don't have enough time to get out."

"What are we going to do, then?" Drake asked.

"We'll have to fight our way out." Matt said. "I know it looks impossible, but we have little choice. If they break in, we'll end up fighting in here, and that's not good. If we get out there we might be able to break through and find a more defensible position, or maybe get out of here." There was a loud crashing noise.

"Sounds like they broke down the door." Helen said. "It's only a matter of time before they get through the stuff Flynn and I piled up in front of it. There wasn't much to put in front of the door."

"Well, that doesn't help." Matt said. He walked over to Julie. "Come on, you need to get on your feet." Matt helped Julie off the bed. She winced again and almost fell back over. Drake caught her and helped her back up.

"Come on, we've got to get moving!" Matt said. There was another crashing noise. "There goes…something, I don't know! We need to move!" And so they dashed out of Julie's hospital room and into the hospital lobby.

The door had been smashed apart in several places. There was a variety of tables, lamps and other such things piled up in front of it, but most of them had been thrown across the room and smashed against the opposite wall. As they entered the lobby, a lamp came flying across the room and split in half over Drake's head, showering him in sparks.

"Ow!" He said.

"Stay low!" Matt said. "And, I don't know why I'm saying this, but don't get git by any flying objects!" A coffee table flew at him. He punched it hard enough to make it shatter into several hundred pieces. "Come on! We need to get closer to the door!" They ran in a sort of semi-crouch towards the door and pressed up against the wall. The fiends began to stick arms and heads through the holes in the door and roar at them. Drake noticed they seemed to have eyes for Matt over anyone else.

"Okay, so here's the plan!" Matt said. "I'm going to push everything away from the door and try to kill everything in the general vicinity of it! You guys will follow up behind me and give me some support! Stay low, stay alert, and please, don't die! I don't want to attend another funeral."

"Got it!" Everyone said. Matt began to inch over towards the door. Splinters of wood kept flying away from the door as the fiends tore apart everything in their reach. Suddenly they pulled out and stopped. For a moment Matt froze, then he dove back towards them.

"GET DOWN!" He shouted. Drake didn't know why, but he froze, and he instantly regretted it.

The entire hospital was shook by a massive force. Splinters flew from the various objects that had been holding the door shut flew everywhere. Several of the splinters hit Drake in his left side, which had been facing the door, and a few more hit him across the stomach. Drake convulsed from the pain, small drops of blood coming out of the wounds. Drake pulled the pieces out of his stomach and quickly got to his feet. Two of the largest fiends had charged through the door, instantly flattening it. And now the same two fiends were turning to address Matt.

Matt decided to take initiative. With a few lightning fast strokes, he carved away the arms of the first big fiend with a kunai knife and impaled the little orb that marked the fiend's weak spot. The fiend let out a roar of pain and then exploded, sending a very surprised Matt flying across the room. He sprung off his hand and landed on his feet.

"They're not supposed to do that!" He said. Flynn, Helen, and Keith, began to berate the second fiend with a hail of bullets. It never stood a chance. The bullets tore apart the fiend's protective arms and tore through its orb, causing it to explode as well. The explosion took out several fiends who had just ran in the hospital door, hoping for a swift kill. "Come on!" Matt shouted over the noise of the fiends. "Follow me!" He ran out the now completely open doorway. The others followed him, as he requested.

_There's so many!_ Drake thought, hammering away at the nearest fiend with his rifle. _What was Matt thinking?!? We're all going to die!_ He ejected his empty clip, threw it at a fiend, and locked in a new one. _Especially with Julie in such bad condition! _Drake glanced uncertainly at her, as she was standing right next to him, helping to cover him. _And he claims to be in terrible condition too! This is suicide! _A shadow rose out of the ground to meet Drake. He swung the butt of his rifle at it and clove it in half, only to have it reform behind him. Fortunately, Flynn noticed and put a bullet through what should have been its skull. The shadow dissipated, only to reform in the core of the group of fiends.

"There's too many!" Flynn said, beads of sweat appearing on his face. "And these shadows are bitches! They keep respawning!"

"That's only for video games!" Keith said.

"We're going to die!" Helen said, pushing a fiend away with the stock of her rifle. "We can't possibly keep this up forever!" Matt passed in front of them, cutting down the nearest line of fiends.

"Just keep fighting! We'll get out of this somehow!" He shouted, looking over his shoulder at them.

"MATT! LOOK OUT!!!" Julie screamed. Matt turned to look in front of him to see a fiend leveling a shotgun on him. His eyes grew wide and he tried to move. He was too late. There was a earsplitting noise and Matt was sent spinning backwards, streams of blood following him. Drake dropped his gun in disbelief.

_No… it can't be…_ He thought numbly. Time seemed to move slowly as Matt fell to the ground. His body hit the ground with a resounding thud that seemed to echo through Drake's mind. The others had also frozen and were staring with similar disbelief on their faces. Tears were leaking out of Julie's eyes.

And for some reason the fiends began to run away. Drake didn't care why. All he was focused on was the bleeding body in front of him. Julie ran to Matt's side without a second thought and began to scream his name. When he didn't respond, Julie rolled him over, gasped at the damage, turned, and threw up.

The shotgun blast had torn apart almost all of Matt's right side beneath his lung. They could actually see his lung expanding and contracting from his shallow breath. The right half of his liver had been torn completely off, as had the right side of his stomach. His intestines had fallen out partially when Julie had rolled him over, and their contents were spilling out to join the blood and stomach acid that was flowing quite freely out of his side. The sight made Drake sick.

"Matt…no…" Flynn said. Julie was openly crying on the ground next to Matt.

"Why? Why? WHY?!?" She kept saying, and then broke down into sobs again. With what looked like an incredible amount of effort, Matt sat up against a nearby building. His intestines slipped a little farther out.

"You're still alive?!?" Drake said.

"Yes…but only just. I need to put things in order." Matt said. He closed his eyes, then opened them slowly. "Julie, get up." She did so and went to stand next to Drake. Her eyes were still filled with tears. "I'm going to die. There's no way to fix this-"

"But can't you do that soul thing?" Keith asked.

"The damage is… too great to be fixed. I cannot regenerate that much." Matt looked into Drake's eyes. "I need to address each of you individually. These are my last words, I suppose…" He closed his eyes again, then slowly opened them. "Drake, you're a great duelist and a good man. You've got something going here, keep rolling and you'll be fine." Drake wasn't sure, but he thought Matt's eyes flickered purposefully towards Julie during the last statement. Matt's eyes now moved to Keith. "Keith… you're a brilliant young man. Keep working at it, and you'll go far… yes, quite far…" Matt's eyes moved to Flynn. "Flynn… so you're going to do tag dueling? Find a good partner… yes, someone who can support you not just on the duel field, but off of it too… and look in a place you don't expect to find someone in…"

Matt's eyes came to rest on Helen next. "You're a good woman, just try not to shoot everyone you don't trust… hehe..cough" Matt spat out some blood. At the rate he was losing fluids, it was a miracle he was still alive. "And just so you know, when you return to the Academy, you will be Chancellor… so be prepared." Helen nodded. There were tears in her eyes too. And finally Matt's eyes came to rest on Julie. "Julie, Julie… what to say? Come here… to my left." Julie walked slowly toward him and dropped to her knees next to him. Quite unexpectedly, Matt wrapped his arms around her and pulled her tight to his side. And then he spoke so softly that Drake could barely hear it.

"I'm sorry… for what I put you through. If you hate me for that… I don't blame you. But please…grant me this, a last wish to a dead man. I want your forgiveness…"

"It's okay…" Julie whispered. "It's all okay… I forgive you… I love you…"

"I know… but it never would have worked. Sorry for that, too…" And with that, Matt released his hug. Drake could swear he saw tears welling up in Matt's eyes. Julie stood up and slowly walked away. Tears were falling quite freely from her face. Matt shut his eyes again, and slowly opened them. "I want… to thank all of you. It has been… an honor and a privilege to get to know each of you. It has truly been… one of the best times of my life. Now…" He reached into his pocket and withdrew two things: a cell phone and a PDA. "…I need to give you guys these. The cell phone will allow you to contact Brooklyn. The PDA contains all of my personal notes on the Shadow Realm, along with an incomplete map of the realm… incomplete because it does not go past the first level… and the realm is constantly changing. Here…" He held them out for Flynn to take. Flynn stored them in his pocket. Matt breathed deeply. "And now… I can die in peace. Just no one come and join me…hahah-" Matt's laugh became fainter and fainter. His eyes began to close slowly, until they were finally shut. Then, he took one last breath, and slumped over sideways, dead.

For a while they all just stood there. They had been through a lot, but this was the worst. Matt dead… they had long believed him invincible, unable to be taken down by anything or anyone. But now, there he was, finally beaten at last, broken, undeniably dead.


	30. After the Death

Chapter 30- After the Death

Flynn broke the silence by pressing a few of the buttons on Matt's PDA. "Hmm…"

"What is it?" Drake asked, snapping out of his reverie. He had borderline disliked Matt for a little while, ever since the memory shadow game, but now that Matt was gone, Drake couldn't anymore. He had died trying to get them to safety, after all.

"Yeah, what did Matt leave us with?" Keith said, peering over Flynn's shoulder. "Wow. Quite extensive."

"Did you expect anything less?" Drake asked.

"No, but it amazes me just how much stuff he can write on one thing."

Drake looked at the PDA screen. It was clearly organized into sections and subsections, types of creatures, levels of the realm, and so on. He also had a small section detailing…

"My god, us?" Helen said. "Why would he have entire entries on us?"

"I don't know." Flynn said, scanning through his. "Hang on… he has one on _every freaking person _at the Academy! How did he get this much stuff on so many people?"

"Worked hard at it?" Keith suggested.

"Well, he does specialize in that kind of stuff." Flynn said. "He was a ninja, so I guess it wouldn't have been that hard… but why? Hang on, what's this?" Drake saw him select an option labeled, "When I die, select this." A short note appeared on the screen. Flynn read it, and passed the PDA to Keith, shaking his head. "Incredible… that he planned that far ahead."

Keith finished with it. His reaction was the same as Flynn's. He passed the PDA on to Helen. Helen read it with a similar look on her face. She passed it to Drake, and he read. The page had already been scrolled down quite a bit, about 60 of it must have been read already. Drake read.

"DRAKE. Don't read any other parts of this, and stop reading as soon as I tell you to. It's okay if you hate me for what I've put you through- especially that which concerns Julie. I know you have… feelings for her. Now that I'm gone, you'll need to support her more than ever. Do that for me, I've always had at least a little bit of a soft spot for her… as much as I can have for anyone, anyway. Your dream may yet come true… just survive this. You can do it, if anyone can. Support the others, do your best, don't fail them. Don't second-guess this, no matter what happens. Remember why you duel… just do that, and you'll be okay. Stop reading, and pass the PDA to Julie."

Drake felt as surprised as the others looked. There was a small white horizontal bar across the bottom of the screen. It read, "Date Edited." The following date was about two weeks earlier. Drake shook his head and moved over to Julie, who was still crying.

"Julie." He whispered in her ear. "Here." She didn't look up. Drake lay his hand on her shoulder in what he hoped to be a comforting manner. Julie still didn't look up. Drake was more than a little annoyed. _Come on, he's dead, can't we move on now?_ Drake thought. _Or is she going to spend the rest of her life mourning over him? It would end up being pretty short if she did…_ "Julie, come on. We need to move on."

"But… but…" She said, looking up at Drake with tear-filled eyes. "…He's dead…"

"Yeah…" Drake said. "But he can still speak to you." He pushed the PDA into her hands. She looked down at it and read through the tears. Whatever it said must have been pretty strong, because the tears came harder. Julie buried her face in the screen and cried out loud. "Hang on! We still need that!"

Julie stopped crying, sniffled, and looked back into Drake's eyes. "What?" She asked, her voice still quavering.

"There's stuff in there we might need! If you cry on it, we'll lose it!" Drake said.

"Oh, yeah, right… it's just that… oh…I don't think I'll ever be able to live without him…" She said, and gave Drake the PDA before she could cry on it again. Drake, in turn, handed it to Flynn, who slid it into his back pocket. Julie stood up, leaning a little on Drake for support. Flynn flipped open Matt's cell phone and began to scroll- well, look at all the contacts. There were three.

"We don't have many options, huh?" Flynn said. "We should call Brooklyn… but I don't see him."

"He's right there…" Keith said. "His real name is Chris, remember?"

"No, I don't. I always called him Brooklyn." Flynn said.

"Who is this Brooklyn that you speak of?" Helen said. "I want to know who he is, before we go calling him."

"Oh, he's Matt's much more honorable younger brother. Not nearly as cool or proficient at dueling and killing as Matt, but he's better than any of us." Flynn sent a call to Brooklyn. Flynn switched to speaker phone and set the phone on the ground. Everyone gathered around the phone. It rang three times before Brooklyn picked up.

"Yeah Matt?" He said. There was a faint clicking noise in the background, suggesting that he was using a keyboard. "I don't have that stuff yet-"

"Brooklyn." Flynn said. "Matt's not here."

"Flynn? How did you get Matt's cell phone? You certainly couldn't have stolen it from him." Brooklyn sounded semi-amused at the thought.

"We didn't take it from him. He died and gave it to us so we could call you." Keith said.

"What did you say?" Brooklyn said. He sounded like he was in total disbelief.

"Matt… is dead." Drake said. "He just got killed, and he gave us his PDA and cell phone."

"That's not good." Brooklyn said. "No, quite the contrary… it's very, very bad. Without Matt, we really have no idea what's going on-"

"Well, we have some." Keith said. "His PDA has all kinds of stuff on it. Details on the Shadow Realm, the creatures that live there, even a file on everyone at the Academy! Though we're not sure why…"

"I have an idea." Brooklyn said. "But I don't want to say more here. If we stay on this line too long, the fiends will be able to track the signal and find my position. Don't lose that PDA, it will probably tell you where I am. Look for a file on the Point of Solitude."

"Where is it?" Helen asked. "I've been around the world twice, and I've never heard of it."

"Of course you haven't. It's not easy to find… in fact, it's almost impossible to fin it unless you already know where it is. Don't ask why. It's possible to find on accident but that's not likely. I've got to go. Find a ride to Switzerland." The phone went dead.

"How are we going to get to Switzerland?" Julie asked. "That's pretty far away, and we're on an island."

"We'll have to find a plane." Keith said.

"Good thing we're in a major city." Drake said. "A plane won't be hard to find."

"The hard part is not finding one, but flying it." Flynn said. "Does anyone here have the faintest idea of how to fly a plane?" Everyone was silent.

"Well…" Drake said. "I know a little… but it's only about enough to get the plane off the ground. After that, we're basically screwed, cause I would have no clue what to do next."

"Well, that doesn't help much." Helen said.

"We'll just have to go to the airport and hope a pilot made it through the fiend attack. Then we have to hope he's willing to help." Keith said. Everyone nodded in agreement. Flynn slipped Matt's phone into one of his pockets and they all set off for the airport.

"By the way, Drake, how did you learn that much about planes?" Julie asked. "How to take off, I mean."

"My dad's a pilot." Drake said. "I wonder… did my parents make it out?"

"Yeah… until now we've been pretty worried about ourselves, but now that I think about it… I wonder if the fiends have control of the world or something like that by now?"

Drake thought about it until they reached the airport. Then his mind was forcefully pulled out of those musings by the sight of the destruction. The front had been torn clean off. The main terminal was belching fire at an alarming rate. As a matter of fact, the whole place was. Most of the planes were in pieces.

"Hmm…doesn't look like we'll find any pilots here…" Keith said.

"I doubt it." Flynn said. "Let's-"

He was interrupted by Drake's shout. Someone or something had put its hand on Drake's shoulder. Drake threw it off and spun around, whipping out his rifle. His eyes widened when he saw who it was. "My God, Dad! Don't do that!"

Drake's dad looked terrible. He wore a dress shirt and tie that was in tatters. The left leg of his dress pants had been torn off and wrapped tightly around his shin. Blood trickled out from under it. There were scratches all over his face and his hair was very unkempt. "Sorry about that. I…I don't know what I'm doing. I'm a little out of whack after those things came around."

"So are we all." Keith said.

"Yes, I would assume that." Drake's dad said. "How did you get here? I thought you were at that place farther south of here." Drake's dad didn't really like that he had ditched a regular education for Duel Academy, but he accepted it better than Drake's mom did.

"We're not exactly sure why. Those fiends came from the Shadow Realm, they were on our island too." Drake said. "We tracked them there, but we had to get out and somehow ended up here."

"Hmm… odd. But… what's going on, exactly? I've been wondering that since I had to crash land when the things obstructed my runway. One of them was big enough to flip my plane and kill everyone on it but me. I've been hiding in the terminal since then. I haven't been able to get in touch with anyone, and I've tried everything."

"We'll explain that all later." Flynn said. "We need to get off this island. Can you get us out of here?"

Drake's dad raised an eyebrow. "Who are you?"

"He's Flynn. He's my friend." Drake said.

"Really? What's your last name?"

"Tager."

"Really… interesting." Drake's dad scratched the fuzz that had grown on his chin. "Do you have any relation to a Captain Jack Tager?"

"Yeah, he's my uncle. Why?"

"I knew him. You have the same kind of commanding aura… he was a good guy."

"How did you know him?"

"I'm retired Air Force. I didn't do it for long, but of course I knew Jack. Now, Drake, why don't you introduce me to everyone else here?"

"Well, that's Keith-"

"Last names, too, please."

"Keith Natran, he's another student. This is Professor Helen, uh… I don't know. Professor, what's your last name?"

"Doesn't matter. I don't use it anymore." She said.

"Uh, okay… and this is Julie Daran, she's another student."

"Hmm…hmm… okay, I'll help. The irony of it is that I think I probably know some of their relatives, heck, I knew a lot of people, I get to know a lot of people flying all over the place. Let's see… Natran… do you have any relation to Joseph Natran, the Calculus professor at Caltech?"

"Yeah, he's my cousin's uncle."

"Thought so… I had him three flights ago, brilliant man… Daran, hmm… don't know anyone like that…"

"You probably wouldn't, it's my mother's maiden name, she's the last one who's got it, apart from me. My dad died…"

"Oh, that's too bad… then again, I think I did see it somewhere… hmm… never mind. You all look sad, is something wrong?"

"It's just that… well, one of our old friends died. He went to the Academy last year, he's the reason that we survived when the fiends attacked just the academy last year."

"Who was it?"

"Matt… something. I can't remember his last name."

"It started with a P." Keith said.

"Wait a minute… did he always wear a small gold cross at his hip?"

Drake thought about it. He remembered seeing it once, it was usually hidden by Matt's cloak. But yeah, he had seen it once. "Yeah, I think he did."

Drake's dad bowed his head. "Too bad."

"What?" Helen said. "Did you know him?"

Drake's dad gave a little laugh. "Everyone who was in that last war knew him. He was incredible… I don't think there was a single soldier who garnered as many honors as he did. He wouldn't take a single one, he always credited someone else. Then he left… I heard he had legal problems somewhere. But, to believe that he's dead… that's hard."

"Yeah… but never mind that." Drake said.

"Can you get us out of here or not?" Flynn said.

"Well, of course I can. But I really don't own any of these planes, so we'd have to steal one." Drake's dad said.

"That's fine, no one's going to use them for a while anyway!" Keith said.

"Where do you need to go?"

"Switzerland."

"Okay. That's rather far. Where in Switzerland?"

"Somewhere near the Alps."

"Which part?"

Flynn pulled out the PDA and set to tapping around for a minute. "We're trying to get to the western half, just west of… well, there's our city. Some place called Brig."

"It's right near the border. I'll bet wherever you're trying to get to is on the border." Drake's dad said. "Let's see if we can find something that's still flyable." He went through a gate that led directly to the planes. Everyone followed him. He was looking over a small plane that seemed to be built for only a few people. "This should do. It was built for a small party, about 10, and it has supersonic capabilities. Even though it's not generally a good thing to fly that fast, we don't care because we need to move quickly. Switzerland is a long way away." Drake's dad reached up and pulled the door open. A staircase fell down. Everyone climbed up and into the plane, the interior of which was very nice. Drake's dad yanked up the stairs, shut the door, and started up the plane.

"Can we trust him to know this kind of plane?" Julie asked.

"Of course we can! He flew a lot of different planes- bombers, fighters, commercial, even charter jets. He can fly anything." Drake said.

"Very confident, aren't you?" Helen said.

"Well, of course." Drake said.

"Hey, everyone! The intercom doesn't work, so I'll just have to shout! We're almost full on fuel, we're taking this one and going! Buckle down, I'm going in thirty seconds." Everyone sat down and snapped in. The plane's engines roared and Drake felt the plane begin to move down the runway. In less than a minute they were in the air and on their way.


	31. Search Preparation

Chapter 31- Search Preparation

The flight took a little over ten hours. Drake slept through most of it, tired and exhausted from the day's events as he was. He woke up to see snow-capped mountains passing below them. It was rather bright outside. Drake guessed that it might be about 8:00 in the evening, but he couldn't be sure. He didn't know the time zone differences.

"Okay!" Mr. Stizen shouted from the front. "We're passing over Switzerland as we speak. It shouldn't take long to land, so get ready to disembark then. I don't want to stay down too long."

"Why not?" Julie asked.

"Because I don't want to get attacked!"

"You won't get attacked." Keith said. "I've been watching the news broadcast, subtitled, of course, and it turns out that Switzerland is the only place that is not under fiend control. That and the UN headquarters…but you should be able to land safely in Switzerland, as usual, it's neutral in this whole affair, and the fiends couldn't be bothered to touch it. Though it does make good chocolate…"

"Oh, that's good. We're rather low on fuel, I'm surprised that we made it this far on this gas. We'll be able to refuel… and you can take your time and get some warmer stuff. If you don't already know, it's cold in the Alps."

"Uh, Dad, we don't have any money." Drake said. "How are we going to buy stuff?"

"Good point…" Mr. Stizen ran his hand through his hair. "Here, have twenty bucks. That's all I've got… I doubt it will get each of you something."

"That's fine." Flynn said. "I've got some cash in an international bank account, on account that I traveled quite a bit. I might have about $400 stored up in that account… that should cover us."

"Right then." Mr. Stizen slipped his twenty back into his pocket. "I'll keep this in case we can't get to that account later."

"Good idea." Flynn said. Five minutes later they had landed and Drake, Helen, Julie, Flynn, and Keith had all gotten off the plane. The Swiss air control began to refill the plane and the Swiss medical crew started to tend to Mr. Stizen. They wanted to help everyone else too, but Flynn wouldn't allow it.

"We don't have time." Flynn said. "We need to get moving."

"But sir, you are in terrible condition!" said one of the Swiss.

"It's not important. Do you know where we could get some hiking gear?"

"You don't plan on hiking, do you?!? You can't possibly do it in that condition!"

"Man, I knew someone who was in far worse condition and he kept on fighting and protecting us." Drake said.

"Then he was a fool!"

Julie's eyes flared and she gave the medic a good gut shot. "No he wasn't." Apparently this display of strength convinced the medic that they were in good enough condition to go hiking. He pointed them to the nearest hiking store and walked away, massaging his stomach. Without further obstruction, they entered the hiking store.

"So, you a-goin' to da Alps?" said the storeowner in poor English. "Let's see here…"

"We don't really need a whole lot of stuff, just some heavier coats. Warm stuff." Flynn said.

"Yeah, alright, let's-a see here…" The owner walked to the back of the shop. "Yeah, we got some nice-a jackets here-a. What would you like?"

"Pick something." Flynn said. "We might need these for a while."

"Don't take too long, though." Keith said, looking pointedly at Helen and Julie.

"Hey, I don't like to shop that much." Julie said. "Except for cards…"

"Same here." Helen said, looking at a rather thick white coat. "This should do."

Drake grabbed a thick red coat, almost at random. "Here. This'll be fine." Everyone grabbed a thick coat. Flynn also got a length of rope with a grappling hook on the end.

"We might need it." He said.

"Is-a that all?" said the storeowner.

"Yeah." Flynn said.

"How will you-a pay?"

"Here. Charge it to this account." Flynn handed him a card.

"That's-a good. See you later, maybe." And with that, he saw them out of his shop. Drake pulled on his coat but left it hanging open.

"Okay, now where are we going?" Julie asked.

Keith pointed to the huge mountains silhouetted against the sky. "Walk toward those mountains. We can use this GPS I have to find the Point in the mountains."

"Sounds good, but we still have to walk a long way to get there." Flynn said. "It's almost six miles to this Point of Solitude, according to the coordinates in Matt's PDA. And since it's unlikely that we'll be able to walk in a completely straight line, it'll be even longer."

"Very true, especially since we'll need to go up and down as well." Helen said.

"Well then, let's stop talking and start moving!" Drake said.

"Yeah!" Julie said. Flynn smiled a little.

"Don't get too excited, now." He said. "You'd waste all your energy and then it would be hard to hike."

"Right. Sorry." Julie said. They set off toward the mountains. The wind was whipping about and it might have been below twenty, but the thick coat kept Drake warm. After about ten minutes of moving the terrain started to get a little rougher as they left the city limits. The temperature continued to drop as they got farther in. More than once they were forced to stop for a little while because the wind was too strong.

"This is lousy!" Keith said. "It's so freaking windy!"

"Yeah, it is." Flynn said. "If this doesn't calm down a little, we're going to have problems." The wind let up a little and they continued on. Fortunately the wind and the snow were the only obstacles they had to deal with- there were no fiends.

"This way…oh crap." Keith said, looking up from the GPS to see the sheer rock face he had just run into. "This isn't good."

"Move." Flynn said. "Everyone back away." Everyone got out of Flynn's way. He pulled out his length of rope, set it on the ground, and began to swing the hook around in a vertical circle. It seemed as if he had done it several times before, because when he threw it, it latched on perfectly. "Okay, only one at a time. I'm not sure how strong this rope is, but fortunately the cliff isn't too high." One by one, they shimmied up the rope and onto the cliff above. Flynn pulled the hook off and wrapped the rope up again. "Let's go."

"By the GPS, we should be within a mile of the Point…" Keith said. "The problem is, our visibility is far less than one mile…" Some of the snow by his feet was kicked up in a sudden explosion. Drake squinted, trying to see through the snow.

"Fiends!" He said, noticing several large shapes moving toward them. He whipped out his rifle and took aim. The others did the same. It seemed, however, that the wind was altering the path of their shots, or the fiends really didn't care, because they kept coming, not slowing up at all.

"Run!" Flynn said.

"Where?!?" Helen said. "We're on the edge of the cliff!"

"That way!" Flynn said, pointing over to his right, away from both fiends and cliff.

"But that goes away from the Point!" Keith said.

"Damn it Keith, we don't have time to argue! If we do, we'll get steamrolled!" Keith agreed instantly, as the fiends were becoming easier to see by the second. Everyone dashed to the right, across a sheet of ice that Drake nearly slipped on. They ran into another cliff.

"Crap!" Drake said. "We've got nowhere to go!"

"We don't need to go anywhere." Flynn said.

"What are you…?" Before Drake could finish, he heard the telltale sound of cracking ice. The fiends were too large! The sheet was cracking and the fiends fell though and into the massive snowdrift that the ice had been covering. The fiends were instantly buried in the heavy snow. "Wow. That was cool."

"Yeah, not bad Flynn." Keith said.

"Let's go. We need to get back on course." Flynn said.

"You're not going anywhere!"

"Oh great. Just what we needed." Helen said. "It sounds like one of those dueling fiends."

"Yep." Drake said. "I'll take care of this." He stepped towards the fiend, who had avoided the fates of his compatriots. "You ready to lose?"

"Ha! You will lose everything in this duel!"

"That doesn't sound good." Julie said.

"It doesn't matter." Drake said. "Come on, you stupid fiend!"

"You are the stupid one!"

"Let's duel!"


	32. Ice Cold Duel

Chapter 32- Ice Cold Duel

"Let's duel!"

Drake: 4000 

**Fiend: 4000**

"We don't have time for this…" Flynn muttered.

"Why not?" Julie said. "It's not like we had an option."

"Yes, but still… we could have tried to avoid it rather then running headfirst into this duel."

"He's right." Helen said. "It would be easy to escape in this snow. Now, since Drake took it, there's no way to get out. I was doing a little research on this Shadow Game stuff. I figured it might help me if this ever happened again. The old chancellor had a lot of books. One of them said that once you accept a challenge, no matter what you do, you will not be able to escape."

"Yeah, I think Matt said something like that once." Keith said.

"Well, I'm sorry then. I'm impulsive." Drake said.

"Yes, we noticed." Flynn said.

"But it doesn't matter anymore." Drake said. "I'm the one in danger now, so that's good, right?"

"That's what you think!" The fiend said. "I'll go first!" He drew a card. "I summon Breaker the Magical Warrior (Dark/Spellcaster/Effect, 1600/1000) in attack mode! When he's summoned, he gets one Spell Counter, which increases his attack by 300 points! (1900) Furthermore, I can remove the Counter to destroy any spell or trap card on the field! I set one card and end my turn."

"Fine then, I'll begin your destruction." Drake said, and drew a card. "Hmm… not good, but not bad. I think I'll just set a monster in wait for you and end my turn."

"Ha! That will not save you from what I have!" The fiend drew his card.

_Maybe, but it's better than losing any of my traps to Breaker. _Drake thought.

"I'll summon my mighty X-Head Cannon (Light/Machine/Effect, 1800/1500) in attack mode!"

_What kind of deck is he playing? Those monsters have no connection… wait…_ Drake remembered Matt's first duel. The world champ of the time (who had proceeded to lose the title after losing to Matt) had used monsters like this. _Light and Dark… so it's Chaos. I sure hope he doesn't have what I think he has._

"Now, Breaker, attack his monster!"

"Too bad! It was my Skilled White Magician, who has 1900 defense points."

"Curses… oh well, I shall get you next turn! I'm done."

"Good. Then I can get to destroying you." Drake drew his card. _This won't do! Why can't I draw a card today?!? Oh well… guess I'll just have to hold out longer._ "I summon Apprentice Magician (Dark/Spellcaster/Effect, 400/800) in defense mode! When summoned, it allows me to add a spell counter to any monster that can bear one! So, I'll tack one on to my White Mage. That will end my turn."

"Hmph! I knew this duel wasn't going to be any fun. Time to turn up the heat, I guess. Or turn it down… Keh keh keh."

"Uh-oh. Evil laugh. Not good." Julie said. "At least, I don't think so…"

"It can't be anything good." Flynn said.

"I summon another monster, Giant Orc (Dark/Fiend/Effect, 2200/0) in attack mode! Then I'll break this tedious stalemate by attacking your White Magician with the Orc!"

"Curses…I could have used him. Oh well."

"Now, X-Head Cannon, destroy that little magician!"

"Ha… fool. When the Apprentice Magician is destroyed, I can special summon one level two or lower Spellcaster-Type monster in facedown defense mode."

"What threat will it be if I destroy it with Breaker?!?"

"Quite a large one…"

"Ha! I'll call your bluff. Breaker, attack his monster!"

"Not a bluff… Old Vindictive Magician. I'll use his effect to destroy your Breaker."

"That's good! Now Drake can play some traps without fear of them being destroyed." Keith said.

"Yes, but he doesn't have any cards in the field. He needs to gain some control." Helen said.

"I'll take control now!" Drake said, and drew a card. "Hmm…" _Another worthless draw! It would have been nice to draw that Mpirian Warrior card right now so I could summon him and two more… but no. Had to draw a currently useless card. _"Let's see… now that your turn has ended, the Giant Orc is in defense mode. So, I'll set these two cards, and then summon Gemini Elf (Earth/Spellcaster, 1900/900) in attack mode. Attack the Orc!"

"It doesn't matter. He was worthless hanging around here anyway. I only needed him for one turn. Besides, there are good things to come from that… for me, that is!!!"

"Yeah, sure. Let's see them. I'm done."

"Fool!" The fiend drew a card. "Let's see how you like this! I activate my facedown card, Monster Reincarnation! Now, I'll send one card from my hand to the Graveyard to bring Breaker back to my hand! Next, I'll summon Breaker! As you know, he now gains a spell counter, which I can remove to destroy your facedown card!"

"Curses… I could have used that. But it doesn't matter! Because you removed the Spell Counter, Breaker can no longer take on my Elf."

"He's not meant to."

"What?"

"I remove the two monsters in my Graveyard, Giant Orc and Armor Exe, to special summon the Chaos Emperor Dragon- Envoy of the End (Dark/Dragon/Effect, 3000/2500) in attack mode!"

"No! That thing is ridiculously strong!" Drake said.

"And now I'll use its special ability! By paying 1000 life points…

Drake: 4000 Fiend: 3000 

"…I can destroy all cards on the field and in each players hands! When this effect resolves, you take 300 points of damage for each destroyed card! Now, let's see… I have three monsters on my side of the field, and three cards in my hand! You have one monster, a facedown, and three cards in your hand! And all of them are about to be destroyed! When it's over, you will have lost 3300 life points!"

"Crud! It's a good thing I have Hallowed Life Barrier! Now, I'll discard a card…not that it matters… and reduce the damage to zero!"

"It doesn't really matter! All cards are still destroyed!"

"Yes, but now you've left yourself wide open…" Drake sent all his cards to the Graveyard and drew one card. _Wrong Mpirian, but it'll do! _

"Was that a good idea?" Julie asked.

"Not at all." Helen said. "At least, not in retrospect. If Drake had eaten the damage, then the fiend would look brilliant. But since Drake blocked it all, the fiend looks like an idiot."

"I summon Mpirian Knight (Light/Warrior, 1900/1600) in attack mode!"

"…and that's why."

"Knight, attack him directly!"

Drake: 4000 

**Fiend: 1100**

"You'll pay for that…"

"I don't think so."

The fiend snarled and drew a card. "Oh, ho! Now this will hurt. So… I'll play Pot of Greed!" The fiend drew two cards. "And I got exactly what I wanted! So, now I'll remove the Emperor Dragon and Chaos Command Magician to special summon Chaos Sorcerer (Dark/Spellcaster/Effect, 2300/2000) in attack mode! Attack his knight!"

Drake: 3600 

**Fiend: 1100**

"Not good." Drake said, and drew another card. _This might help._ "I activate my own Pot of Greed!" Drake drew his allotted two cards. "Let's see… how to do this." _Well, I drew the Warrior this turn, but he won't help me now! But he can defend for a while._ "I summon Mpirian Warrior (Light/Warrior/Effect, 1500/1200) in defense mode. When he's summoned, I can special summon his two compadres, also in defense mode. That will end my turn."

"Ha! A desperate move by a desperate person. You're not getting out of this one!" The fiend drew a card. "Ha! This'll kill you. I summon Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke (Light/Warrior, 1800/1000) in attack mode! Next, I'll activate Fairy Meteor Crush, and give it to the Sorcerer! Now, he breaks your defenses!"

"No!"

"Chaos Sorcerer, attack his Warrior!"

Drake: 2500 

**Fiend: 1100**

"And now, it's time to introduce you to my ice-cold Shadow Game! My first cut was too shallow, so I waited until I cut a little deeper! For every five hundred points you lose, your little friends will have a little drop in their body temperature! I've been researching you humans, and it seems that if your body temperature drops too low, you die! So your friends will lose about 2/3 degrees of their body temperature for every five hundred points you lose… and since you lost 1500 points, their body temperatures will decrease by 2 full degrees!"

"So? That's not too formidable."

"Did I mention that we're talking in Celsius?"

"…oh."

"Keh keh keh… now watch as your friends freeze to death!"

Drake turned around. Slowly, everyone's skin became tinged with blue. They started shivering intensely. "I-I-I c-c-can't feel m-m-my feet." Julie said, sounding a lot like their stuttering classmate Benjamin.

"Yeah… it's… pretty damn cold." Flynn said.

"Great." Drake said. _I need to hurry up and win this. Otherwise, it's likely that they'll die from this cold if it takes too long. Good thing he only has 1100 life points left…_

"Now, Sasuke, destroy another one!"

"My turn." Drake drew a card. "Okay… let's see… I've got one Warrior left… but he has that Fairy Crush… okay… I'll sacrifice my last Warrior in order to summon Silent Swordsman LV. 5 (Light/Warrior/Effect, 2300/1000) in attack mode. Now, attack Sasuke!"

Drake: 2500 

**Fiend: 600**

"Curses… you'll pay for that one."

"No I won't! I'll activate Fissure, which destroys your Sorcerer. I end my turn."

"Hmph." The fiend looked displeased as he drew his card. Then his eyes got big and his frown twisted into a smile. A very, very evil smile. "This is the end. I remove Grandmaster Sasuke and Chaos Sorcerer from my Graveyard to summon the last one… to summon… the BLACK LUSTER SOLDIER, ENVOY OF THE BEGINNING (Light/Warrior/Effect, 3000/2500)!"

"No!" Drake said. _I know that effect, and I don't have anything to block it!_

"Ha! Now, Black Luster Soldier, destroy his Swordsman!"

Drake: 1800 

**Fiend: 600**

Drake turned to look at his friends. A look of sudden confusion came over them.

"What's going on?" Julie said.

"Yeah, how are we here?" Keith said. "Wait, who are you?"

"I don't know who you are… wait… weren't you on T.V.?" Helen said.

"Yeah, I think I was…"

_What's going on?_ Drake thought. _Why are they acting so strange?_

The fiend was smiling evilly. "Witness the effects of cold on a human. Long exposure and a decreasing body temperature causes confusion, the effects of which you now see. Your friends barely remember who they are… hahaha… so funny… time to end this. As I'm sure you know, when the Envoy of the Beginning destroys a monster in battle, he can attack again! Go, attack him directly!"

Drake: 0 

**Fiend: 600**

Drake felt a sudden burst of cold wash over his body. He couldn't move- the cold numbed his entire body. He couldn't turn- all he could do was fall face-first into the snow, unconscious.


	33. Saved?

Chapter 33- Saved?

Drake shook his head and opened his eyes. His entire body was numb, and yet somehow he was upright, though there were intense pains in both his arms and legs. His vision was blurry. Drake shook his head and tried to focus, but couldn't. Something was acting on him, and it was preventing him from seeing anything clearly. There was a prick on his arm and everything came into focus. He was inside somewhere- exactly where he didn't know. The room wasn't very well lit, and was entirely square.

Fiends were everywhere. The big ones, the normal ones, shadows, hounds. They occupied the entire room. And then there was one, obviously the leader. He seemed to be an intelligent one, and yet his form was different. He didn't look like the normal fiends, his form was more… human.

_He looks almost like a human with black skin!_ Drake thought. _What kind of fiend is this? He's got a duel disk… is it possible that he's the newest type of fiend? A stronger dueling one?_

Drake heard groaning to his right. He turned his head and saw the others, strapped to metal plates that seemed to have been rammed into the floor. Drake could tell that he was strapped to the same thing, even though he could see it.

"Where are we?" Julie said. "I feel so confused…"

"You should! You failed to defeat that other fiend, and because you didn't die like you were supposed to, he decided to bring you all here." Said the human-ish fiend.

"Where exactly is 'here', anyway?" Flynn asked.

"Rome. But it doesn't make too big a difference, you'll die soon. I have a very special death planned for the four of you…"

" 'The four of you'? How dense are you? Can't you count? There's five of us." Keith said.

"I have orders not to touch the girl." The fiend said, though he looked and sounded displeased with the order. "I don't know what he wants with her… but I will follow orders, I suppose."

"What do you plan to do to us?" Flynn asked.

The fiend smiled evilly. "Hehehe… you'll wish you never asked that." He beckoned to two of the larger fiends behind him, who left the room and re-entered pulling a large machine. It was a huge black shell with an opening at the top, and a slot at the top that looked like it would accept the metal plates they were strapped to. The shell was clear and had metal bands around it at every conceivable angle. On the inside of the shell was a multitude of what appeared to be small claws. They were engulfed in a sort of blue aura.

"What the hell is that thing?" Flynn asked.

"This is the most painful torture device ever created…" The fiend said. He seemed to be almost crooning over the machine, as if it were his child.

"That doesn't help much." Helen said.

"Very well! I will explain the death that has been arranged for you." The human fiend said. "As you can probably tell, a metal plate with the victim attached to it is inserted through the slot at the top. Then, this little bit here…" The fiend gestured to an indescribable thing at the bottom of the machine. "…is attached to the victims heart."

"Do you mean literally or just over it?" Drake said. It felt like the others were trying to stall for time, though Drake couldn't figure out why. Still, he could help stall. "Do you actually plan on tearing open our chests and attaching that thing?"

"Oh, I don't need to tear open your chests. That would be too messy. You see, this thing will drill a hole directly through your flesh and sternum and insert itself into one of the heart's atriums."

"That's sick…"

"Thank you. It's meant to be. And it will likely be painful as well… hehe… Anyway! After that, the machine will begin to drain this energy source you humans have but tend not to use to power itself."

"What energy?" Keith said.

"Don't know, don't care. We just know that you humans have it but only specialized people use it. So, it starts to drain this energy and the machine starts up. This would seem to be enough to kill you, but it didn't kill the humans we tested it on. No, and that's not even the real pain. The real pain comes when the claws come for you."

"What? Do they start to rip apart your body?" Flynn said.

"Oh, no. That wouldn't be very sinister, would it? Now would it fit our theme here! No, no… this is far worse! You see, if we destroy the body, your spirit can escape to wherever you humans go when you die, Heaven or something like that, or perhaps this Hell you speak of. Either way, that's not near deadly enough!"

"Ha! Hell is far worse than anything you can throw at us." Drake said.

"You poor naïve boy. You cannot possibly imagine how deadly this is. You see, the claws do not even pierce your skin. Not your physical skin, at least. You see, the energy the machine drains from you is focused into these claws in such a way that the claws can simply go through your flesh without tearing it. Then, the claws grab hold of your soul and begin to tear it apart, piece by tiny piece. There are many claws, but they tear off very small bits of your soul every time they tear. All the while, the machine must keep draining your energy to keep going. So you will feel the pain of having your souls literally torn to shreds while the machine saps your energy."

"That's… disturbing." Flynn said.

"It's meant to be! I look forward to watching you struggle as the machine tears you apart. And that's not the end, oh no, after your soul is torn up, your body will be possessed by one of these lesser beings and used as our master sees fit. But your soul will not be able to rest, it will wander the earth, torn to pieces, unable to come back together, in pain for all eternity, pain magnified by the number of pieces your soul is in! And there is no way to cure it… hehehe… and I'll say this." The fiend looked evilly at Julie. "This isn't nearly as bad as what you'll have to go through!"

Julie looked away. She was visibly shaken by the fiend's vivid description of the torture device. Tears were streaming down her cheeks, and her face had gone pale. The fiend seemed satisfied.

"So, who will be the first victim? Any volunteers?" He said. "Come on, who wants to take this thrill ride of death first?!?"

"None of them!" came a voice from outside. One of the walls was blown in, crushing some of the fiends next to it. Something moved through the smoke, firing off blue streaks of light that melted holes through anything they touched. In seconds all of the fiends except the human one had been killed.

Brooklyn stopped between the fiend and Julie. His laser was in his right hand, and the barrel was smoking. His face was red and streaked with sweat. The tips of his fingers were slightly blue, implying that he had traveled without much protection through a cold region to get there. He was holding a black sphere in his left hand, his thumb was on a red button on the side. An axe hung at his belt. "Take one step forward and I swear I'll blow you to Kingdom Come."

"Have you forgotten, foolish mortal? I cannot die from those pitiful weapons!" said the human fiend.

"You're right. I can't kill you with these." Brooklyn threw the laser over his shoulder and slipped the bomb into his pocket. He raised his right arm, which bore a duel disk, in front of him. "But if I'm correct, I can kill you with this."

"Ha! You fool. My dueling prowess is unmatched even among the greatest of all fiends!" The human fiend activated his duel disk.

"Then I suppose you have nothing to worry about, huh?" Brooklyn activated his duel disk.

"Let's duel!"

Author Notes:

Just for the sake of it, I'd like to ask the readers a few questions. Respond by PM if you know the answers:

1. What is the name of the energy used by the machine?

And while I'm at it...

2. Which character (first and last name) is the partial inspiration for Matt? (Hint: The eye)

3. What is the real name of the "Blue Sphere of Death" used by Matt?

Hint: All of the answers can be found in another Shonen Jump manga.


	34. Duel Against the Machine

Chapter 34- Duel Against the Machine

Brooklyn: 4000 

**Human Fiend: 4000**

"Ha! You fool! There's no possible way that you can defeat me! You're so stupid looking, you probably barely understand the game!" said the human fiend. "As such, I'll start, so you can see how it's done!" He drew a card. "Hmm… I'll set one monster in defense mode. Then, I set one card facedown card. Now go, and see if you can keep up!"

"Oh, trust me. I'll do just fine." Brooklyn said. He drew a card. "Let's see…I activate Mpirian Strike, which allows me to select one Mpire monster in my hand and destroy one monster on the field. So your monster is gone."

"Oh no, my monster is gone, what will I ever do?!?" said the fiend mockingly.

"Well, you'll probably die, because I selected Chris, King of Mpire from my hand."

"So?"

"Since I used him in conjunction with Mpirian Strike, I can now special summon him. So, here he is, (Earth/Warrior/Mpire/Effect, 2600/1500) in attack mode! Now Chris, attack directly!"

"Ha! You fool! I activate my trap card, Sakuretsu Armor! Now your foolish warrior is destroyed!"

"Ha! That would be true if it wasn't for Chris's effect. If you attempt to destroy him during my battle phase, then his attack is negated, but he isn't destroyed. So now I'll just set a card and end my turn."

"Hmph. Cheat." The fiend drew a card. "I'll kill you without any of those cheap cards! I summon Ancient Gear (Earth/Machine/Effect, 100/800) in defense mode! Then I activate the spell card Machine Duplication! This allows me to summon two more Gears from my deck, both in defense mode."

"Oh, boring. More weak monsters to plow through."

"Ha! You have no idea what I have planned. Next I activate Ancient Gear Drill, to set this card from my deck facedown. That's all."

"Wow, you're not too good for talking such a big game." Brooklyn drew a card.

"What do you think he has planned, Keith?" Drake asked.

"Don't know. I haven't seen many Ancient Gear decks, and I don't know many of the cards. Some of them are still pretty new. I haven't had much time to look at them. But there's still a plethora of things he could do. I just wonder what he will do…" Keith said.

"Okay! Brooklyn said. "I summon Mpirian Berserker (Earth/Warrior/Mpire/Effect, 2000/1000) in attack mode!"

"What does he do?"

"Well, just think of him as a Berserk Gorilla clone."

"Alright, I am familiar with the Berserk Gorilla."

"Good, now listen up, because the Berserker has another effect. He breaks through your defense!"

"You cheat! You cannot possibly have that effect!"

"But I do! Watch your life points, eh? Mpirian Berserker, attack his Ancient Gear!"

Brooklyn: 4000 

**Human Fiend: 2800**

"Grr… you'll pay for that."

"Right. I'm sure I will. Now, Chris, attack the next Gear!"

"Are you done yet?"

"Yes. I think my work is done for now."

"Good! Now I can kill you!" The fiend drew a card. I sacrifice the one remaining Gear to summon my Ancient Gear Beast (Earth/Machine/Effect, 2000/2000) in attack mode! Then I'll activate my facedown card, Enemy Controller! With it, I'll switch Chris to defense mode!"

"Curses…"

"Now, Ancient Gear Beast, tear him apart!"

"Even though you destroyed him, I don't take damage."

"So? I got rid of your strongest monster!"

"While that may be true, you've given me the initiative I need."

"I set one card and end my turn."

"Hmm…" Brooklyn drew a card. "Let's see… how to go about this. Berserker must attack and will be destroyed if I switch him to defense mode… so… hmm… I'll just have to sacrifice him. I sacrifice my Berserker to summon Jeff, Lord of Mpire (Wind/Warrior/Mpire/Effect, 2100/1700) in attack mode. Jeff doesn't have to attack, and has a little more power. And he also has a better effect."

"And that would be…?"

"I'm not going to tell you! For now, I'll just set one and end my turn."

"Come on, do you think I'll just walk into that trap? Besides, whenever the Gear Beast attacks, you cannot activate your facedown cards!"

"Oh dear."

"You fool! Prepare to die!"

"You know, I've always wondered how someone is supposed to prepare to die." Flynn said.

"I would guess they mean we should write our will, say our last words, stuff like that." Keith said.

"Hey! Fools in the back! Shut up!" The fiend drew a card. "I summon Green Gadget (Earth/Machine/Effect, 1400/600) in attack mode! Because I summoned him, I can add one 'Red Gadget' to my hand!"

"Oh, no. He's stockpiling weak little gears."

"Never underestimate an enemy, no matter how weak it seems, or it will kill you! I activate Rare Metalmorph! This gives my Gear Beast 500 extra attack points! (2500) And you know what that means?!? Jeff is about to get fragged! Go, Gear Beast, attack! And don't even think about using your facedown card to save you, you can't play a card!"

"I don't need to." Brooklyn said. "You've fallen into a different kind of trap."

"What are you talking about?"

"Jeff is an expert at shooting people's weapons out of their hands. Thus, any time a monster chooses to fight Jeff, if he is a warrior-type monster, the monster loses 500 attack points, and if the monster has any attack increases, they are negated as well. So your beast goes back to 2000, I'm afraid…"

"But…no!"

Brooklyn: 4000 

**Human Fiend: 2700**

"Wow, he's pretty good." Helen said.

"Well, that's Matt's little brother. Of course he's good." Julie said. "He had to survive Matt, or at least give him a run for his money!"

"Still…" Flynn said. "I don't remember him being this good."

"He did take out nine fiends in the time it took you to take down one, remember Flynn?" Drake asked.

"Oh, yes…I do."

"Are you done?" Brooklyn said.

"Crud… how's he doing that? Where are all these cards coming from? What? Oh yes… crap… I've got nothing… I'm done."

"You're right, you are." Brooklyn drew a card. "I activate THE HOLY GRAIL. This card allows me to revive one Mpire monster and increase its points by 200 each. So, Chris King of Mpire will come back with a little more (2800). Now, Jeff, destroy the Gadget!"

Brooklyn: 4000 

**Human Fiend: 2000**

"Wait! You can't defeat me!"

"But I'm going to. Chris, attack directly!"

Brooklyn: 4000 

**Human Fiend: 0**

The fiend exploded, but not like the other ones. The explosion was so massive that it tossed Brooklyn across the room and wrenched the metal plates everyone was bound to out of the ground. The bonds holding Drake broke free as the plate broke.

"Woah… what was that?" Brooklyn said. "Rather large explosion."

"Yeah, this fiend is- was- different." Flynn said, massaging his wrists and back. "That hurt."

"Yeah, but no time to feel pity for ourselves."

"Why's that?" Julie asked.

"We've got to get out of here. I have no doubt that that explosion will draw every fiend it can to our position. So, we need to go. I brought a convenient ride, let's get rolling!" Brooklyn jumped out the hole he had created when he had made his entrance.

"Come on, we need to go." Keith said. "He's right."

"I hate that!" Drake said.


	35. Tragedy

Chapter 35- Tragedy

Drake jumped out of the hole in the wall. Brooklyn was staring up a car outside the building.

"Brooklyn, can you drive?" Flynn asked, following Drake outside.

"Uh, yeah! I can drive." Brooklyn said, completely failing to meet Flynn's eyes. He stuck his head into the driver side window and turned the key. The engine roared to life.

"Somehow I doubt that." Keith said. "Where did you get a Lamborghini Murciélago LP640 Roadster?"

"Uh, Matt, uh, borrowed it from the manufacturer." Brooklyn said.

"As in stole?" Helen said.

"Well, uh, yeah."

"You should return it!"

"I can't! Matt would have to. I can't or I would be associated with him and probably arrested. You have to realize that when Matt slaughtered all of those Egyptians, he went onto the world's most wanted list. I had to cut ties with him to avoid being brought in and questioned and stuff like that."

"I see. But you could just leave it in front of the place while they're not looking."

"Nah. Matt told me explicitly not to do that. Said that he had taken care of all of it. Never found out what he meant. Get in, already!"

"Uh, it's a Lamborghini." Flynn said. "There are only two seats."

"Come on! With all the spare time he had, do you think Matt just sat around and did nothing? He customized this thing. There's enough room to seat 5 people, along with 2 secret seats in the trunk. So get in already! I already told you that the other fiends are probably alerted to our presence." He threw open two very well concealed scissors doors at the back, slid into the front seat, and shut his door. Flynn shrugged and slid into the shotgun seat. Keith and Helen slid into the back seat. Drake sighed, flipped open the trunk, flipped up a seat hidden in the trunk floor, and sat down. Julie joined him.

"Everyone in?" Brooklyn said over his shoulder. "Good!" He turned the keys and the engine roared to life. Brooklyn stepped on the gas and the Murciélago leapt forward. Drake clung to his seat as Brooklyn took a turn probably 140 mph.

"What did Matt put in this car?" Flynn asked.

"Oh, just a couple extra turbochargers that he bolted on, some suspension mods, and a few extra things on the engine and transmission." Brooklyn slid the car around another corner at 160, crushing a couple of fiends who were standing by the road. "Oops."

"That's not good. Now they're going to get on us." Keith said.

"Maybe." Brooklyn pulled on a shift lever in between him and Flynn. The engine began to give off a much louder whine than before.

"What was that?" Drake asked.

"I said Matt put in some turbochargers. The truth is that two of them aren't always on, so we can save gas money and stop the car from going too fast. I just turned one of them on." The needle on the speedometer went past 200. "Also, we've got a few surprises in it…"

"Such as?" Helen said sternly.

"I hope you don't have to find out." Brooklyn sped out of the city going about 230. The turbochargers continued to whine as they sped along the highways of Italy. "No more police to chase us at least."

At that moment the radio turned on. "I've got a possible code six that just sped by me."

"Oh great." Brooklyn said. "I spoke too soon. Drake, where is he?"

"He's right behind you, but he's falling back." Drake said.

"Good. I didn't think he could keep up, even with all these curves." Brooklyn said, attempting to slid around a corner at 180 mph and broke through the guardrail. The car slid off the edge, down the side of the hill, and onto a road below. "Hehe, oops."

" 'Oops?!?' You almost killed us, you inane twit!" Helen said.

"Uh, so?"

"You don't have your license, do you?"

"Uh…"

"I didn't think so. Why are you driving?!?"

"Because I'm the only one who has any experience at this speed!" Brooklyn said, starting down the new road. "Besides, this way is faster anyway and the car is coated in carbon fiber; that little slid probably just broke off a little of the fiber. The car itself probably wasn't damaged much." Something hit the back end of the car, causing both Drake and Julie to pull their legs in closer. The police car had followed them and was ramming the back end of their Lamborghini. The officer's eyes were blank.

"Brooklyn! This isn't a normal cop." Julie said.

"I get that! We'll get away. His car can't muster as much as this one can."

"The question is not whether or not he can get going as fast as us, it's whether or not he can control it better!" Keith said.

"Good point." Brooklyn pushed to shift lever forward another notch and the Murciélago pulled away from the cop car. "See? We can get away." Brooklyn turned slightly so that he could see the car following them. "So long, sucker!" Something hit them in the front this time. Brooklyn looked forward. "Great, more 5-0!"

"I thought you said you could outrun them!" Helen said.

"Well, not if there are this many!" Brooklyn stepped down hard on the gas and the Murciélago shot away from the police car that had hit the front end of the car. "I should be able to outrun them, I'm driving a heavily modified Murciélago LP640 Roadster and they've only got Lamborghini Gallarados… still, the Gallarado is not exactly a slow car. If there are enough of them, they could smash us around too much." Several more police cars drove down the exit ramps and slid in down next to them.

"Now you've done it." Helen said. "You've brought all of the Italian authorites down on us."

"Not for long." Brooklyn said. He grabbed a handle next to the shift level and pushed down on it. The car began to accelerate faster as Brooklyn injected Nitrous Oxide into the engine. The needle spun past 280 on the modified speedometer. The Gallarados that were following them fell behind as the Murciélago exceeded the speed they were capable of. "Told you. Too bad I just emptied all of the Nitrous in that one burst."

"I don't think it matters, unless there are more ahead of us." Flynn said.

The police scanner crackled to life. "Attention, units. Watch your speed, we have a 10-53 about three miles out from your position."

"What's that?" Julie asked.

"Oh crap… it means they blocked the road ahead!" Brooklyn said. "And we can't afford to stop… guess we'll have to hit it as hard as we can. With luck, there won't be SUVs… not like we will have time to notice!"

"There they are." Keith said. "Punch it!"

"This is the top speed!" Brooklyn said. "Matt tested it, we can get going exactly 294 mph, that's it. Brace yourselves!"

Drake grabbed the base of his seat and pressed back. He felt a sudden pressure on his right arm and realized that Julie was clinging hard to it, apparently afraid of what might happen when they hit the block. Her eyes said it all. She had pressed up against him and her nails were digging into his arm. Drake (with much effort) wrapped his right arm around her and held her tight to his side. She continued to cling to his arm. Drake turned to watch as the block came closer.

Time seemed to slow as they closed in. Brooklyn was aimed right at two SUVs that were parked side-to-side. At the last moment he tried to turn toward the single Gallarado that was to their left, but there was no way he could turn going 294 miles an hour. The front end of the Murciélago began to shed fine black threads. After a while the black threads stopped shedding. The front end of the car began to crumple, but not before the SUV was sent flying. The car made contact with the second SUV, which caused the hood to crumple slightly before it too was sent flying off to the side.

Brooklyn kept the pedal to the floor. The car, though damaged, kept going at about 170 mph. "That wasn't so bad, was it?" he said.

"Not so bad?" Helen said. "You almost destroyed the car!"

"Nah, that was just the carbon fibers shearing off the front. The engine should be okay, the front didn't crumple as much as I thought it would. Good thing we were going pretty fast, else it would have been worse."

"Wait a minute… the front end of the car's not crumpled at all." Flynn said, staring through the front windshield.

"What are you…" Keith said, staring out the window and stopping in surprise. Drake stared as well, once he had pried Julie off his arm and pulled her out of his side. The front end of the car had started to smooth out as they watched. In a few seconds the entire front end looked brand new.

"What did he do to this thing…" Brooklyn muttered. "I didn't know it could do that."

"Don't bother thinking about it, just go!" Flynn said. The car's engine whined again as they took off, leaving the cops behind.

"Suspect is through the roadblock, repeat, suspect is through the roadblock! We need more units to continue pursuit." The scanner said. A different voice came on. "That's going to be a negative, let him go."

"Well, we got away." Drake said.

"Not yet." Brooklyn said. "They've put a unit by the mountains. We'll need to break through them too."

-------------------------------------

Brooklyn pulled into a garage at the base of the mountains.

"Pretty well concealed." Keith commented.

"Just stay alert." Brooklyn said, stepping out of the car and hoisting his laser. Everyone stepped out and exited the garage. Brooklyn flipped a switch and the garage was concealed again. They all set off into the mountains. "We have to be careful not to be ambushed. It's easy to hide in here. Wait…" He stopped. "They're here!"

Drake frantically scanned the area. Sure enough, he could make out the shadows of many fiends walking down toward them. He unslung his rifle and began to fire randomly at them. "Not much of an ambush, eh?" Drake said.

"Don't let your guard down!" Flynn said. "Shadows, coming in from behind us!"

"Right!" Keith said. "There's some big ones coming in from deeper in the mountains!"

"We need to divide the attack up equally!" Brooklyn said, blasting away.

"Good idea, Brooklyn! Drake, Helen, fire on the normal fiends!" Flynn said, taking charge. "Keith, you and I will fire on the shadows! Brooklyn, Julie, take out those fat things!"

"Right!" said the other five, and moved toward their respective assignments. Drake continued to hammer away at the oncoming fiends. Helen joined him.

"How do you stand this carnage?" Helen asked, tearing apart a fiend with her rifle.

"I ignore it. I rarely watch what I shoot." Drake said.

"Really? That would explain why your shots seem to hit less than the others…" She said. A fiend stepped between them and forced Drake away from Helen. Drake swung his rifle up and hit the fiend in the jaw. The fiend growled at him and raised a claw to strike Drake. Drake raised his rifle in front of him to defend himself. The blow never came. A horrific scream pierced the air, and it seemed that all heads turned to see the source.

Drake could see through the aisles of fiends. Julie and one of the large fiends were standing face-to-face. The fiend's right arm was sticking out of Julie's chest. Julie was screaming, apparently in horrible pain. Strangely, no blood was leaking out from around the fiend's arm. Either way, Drake felt numb.

_N-n-no… it can't be…_ Drake thought. He could feel his mouth moving but he couldn't hear his own voice. He knew he was speaking but he could hear the scream he knew he was producing.

The fiend tried to pull his arm out. He seemed to have it stuck on something inside Julie, because Julie's body moved with it and she screamed louder. The fiend pulled again and Drake saw the base of the fiend's fingers. Something blue-colored was in between them. The fiend gave another tug and Julie screamed even louder. For some reason her body seemed unable to move as more of the blue thing came out of Julie. The fiend pulled one more time. The entire blue thing separated itself completely from Julie's body. Julie's screaming suddenly stopped and her body went limp and fell at the fiend's feet. The fiend held the blue thing over his head and roared. All the other fiends joined in. Then, suddenly, they all disappeared, leaving Drake desolated, kneeling in the snow.


	36. Despair and Hope

Chapter 36- Despair and Hope

Drake remained there for quite some time. Exactly how long he didn't know. All he knew was that Julie had just had her soul ripped from her body and was now laying in the snow, as good as dead. His entire body had gone numb. Maybe it was from the snow. But Drake could hardly feel the snow.

The others were in similar states of paralysis. Flynn was staring at the space over Julie's body with wide eyes, an open mouth, and a loose grip on his rifle. Keith had fallen over backwards and was staring blankly into the sky. Helen was staring at Julie's body on the ground, mouthing soundlessly.

Brooklyn was the only one who was unaffected by the horrific event. He was moving around and trying to snap the others of their stunned state.

"Come on, come on, we can't stay here." He said, hitting Flynn across the face with his fist. When that didn't work, Brooklyn grabbed Flynn's arm, turned, and threw Flynn over his shoulder. The pain of landing on his back, even if the fall was softened by the snow, shocked Flynn out of his shock.

"Ow… what was that for?" He asked.

"Because you're just standing there!"

"What do you expect me to do?!? Julie just got her soul torn from her body in one of the most brutal fashions I've ever seen!"

"It doesn't matter! Do you want that to happen to you?"

"Uh, no! Duh! Are you stupid?"

"No! Hurry up and snap the others back into it!" Brooklyn moved over to Helen and punched her hard in the stomach. She fell over, winded.

"What the heck… you idiot, what was that for?!?"

"Shut up, stand up, and get ready to go!" Brooklyn said. Helen stood, towering over the little Brooklyn. Brooklyn didn't back down. "That only works on me when Matt does it." Helen stopped trying to intimidate Brooklyn and let him move on. While Flynn was working on Keith, Brooklyn crouched down next to Drake. "Come on then."

Drake continued to stare off into the distance. Nothing mattered anymore. Julie was gone forever. She had lost her soul. Now she was just a cold corpse lying in the snow. Drake didn't care about anything anymore. He didn't care if the fiends came and killed him, at least he might be able to find Julie…

"Drake. I don't want to do this, but it's for your own good." Brooklyn punched Drake in the jaw. Drake rolled with it and continued to stare. He couldn't feel any pain but the horrific stabbing in his heart. Brooklyn scowled. "Come on, we need to go!"

"There's no reason." Drake said. "She's gone."

"Not if we can help it." Brooklyn said grimly.

"She lost her soul!"

"We can recover it, and, with help from Matt's notes, we should be able to restore her."

"What?" Drake stood up so quickly he almost knocked Brooklyn over. "We could?"

"Of course! A torn soul can't be mended, except with the Millennium Star, and even then that's hard, but if the soul is still in one piece, it can be stuffed back into a body. We can just hide her body at the point and go to recover her soul. But we need to hurry, if we're not careful, they might do something with it that we won't be able to save it from."

Drake nodded, ran over to Julie's body, and threw it over his shoulder. His resolve had returned with the prospect of saving Julie. Everyone gathered around Brooklyn.

"Where's the Point?" Flynn said.

"It's right there." Brooklyn said, pointing up at a large rock sticking out of a mountain. There was a tall rickety-looking hut (thought, Drake thought, nothing is as it seems) on the end of the point, which was so far out without support it was ridiculous.

"How can no one find that?" Keith said.

"It's concealed by some kind of Shadow Magic. They mostly only find it when mountaineers fall onto it. Come on, let's go before they send another hunt squad." Brooklyn said. He started toward the mountain and the others followed. After about five minutes they found themselves staring almost vertically up the mountain.

"How do we climb that?" Helen said. "Even an idiot like you should realize that's impossible." It seemed like she still hadn't gotten over the incident in the Murciélago.

Brooklyn glared at her. "Only Matt gets to call me that, and that's only because his intellect far outstrips mine. Yours, on the other hand, doesn't, so shut up. And come on, do you think I climbed down this? Look at me, I have no athletic talent!" Brooklyn hit the mountainside with his fist and it slid open.

"You and your secret doors." Keith said, shaking his head.

"Hey, they're good when you don't people to find you." Brooklyn stepped into the elevator behind the doors and the others piled in behind him. "Oh, yes. Someone needs to put their hand on the scanner to turn it on. I can't reach it."

"Why would any of ours activate the elevator? Wouldn't only yours or Matt's do it?" Drake asked.

"If I know Matt well enough, he'll have put you all in."

Drake placed his free hand flat on the plate. The elevator lights turned on and the doors closed. A computerized voice spoke to them through speakers on the side.

"Drake Stizen, eh? How many are with you Brooklyn?"

"Five active, one, uh, _incapacitated_, right?"

"Soul?"

"Yeah, that one."

"That would be incapacitated."

"Okay, good. I'm not as stupid as Matt thought, I guess." The elevator started moving up.

"Why did you need to look for that kind of word?" Flynn asked.

"S.C.A.N. set up a code for anyone who wants to come in. You have to state the condition of everyone in the elevator. He knows already about how many are in here, he can see us all. But this way he can assess if there's a threat in the elevator if someone finds us."

"I see."

"Oh, yes. Brooklyn. There's someone here already."

"Who?"

"Her."

"Oh, great. This isn't going to end well." Brooklyn looked tense.

"Who is 'her'?" Drake asked.

"Matt's girlfriend."

"HE HAD A GIRLFRIEND?!?" Keith said, deafening everyone in the elevator. Brooklyn frowned and put his hand over Keith's mouth.

"We can all hear you." He said. "And no, not exactly, but I call her that anyway. She's extremely attached to him, but he seems oblivious to it. I call her that because I think he liked her too. But since he's dead… oh, great. She's going to be very hard to get rid of."

The elevator pinged and the doors slid open, revealing a very dark yet rather warm room. It was coated in technology, with computer equipment and other such things everywhere. A massive plasma television took up one wall. The other two walls (the ones that weren't coated in computer stuff) were filled with books. A very sad looking woman was sitting in front of the T.V., staring at it despite the fact that it was off. An empty mug was on the table next to her, still smoking from whatever had been in it. She turned to look as they walked in.

"Oh, you're back at last. I was worried… I could see you on the news. The fiends have taken over everything… and they decided to broadcast that. You have to be more careful with Matt's car." Her voice cracked noticeably when she said Matt's name.

"Hey, sorry I like to drive fast. We needed to get here."

The woman started when she saw Drake carrying Julie. "Another one?!?"

"She's not dead."

"Then what is she?"

The metallic voice cut in here. "Ashley, calm down. Sit down. I'll get you some more hot chocolate…"

"I don't need any more… I'm done." She said. She pushed the mug off the table as she stood up. A metal hand shot out of the floor and caught it. Ashley came toward them. "So you're the ones he told me about."

"I suppose." Flynn said.

"You guys can share pleasantries, I've got some stuff to do… give me the PDA." Brooklyn said. Flynn handed him the PDA and Brooklyn took it up a set of spiral steps and out of sight.

"Sit down, I guess." Ashley said. She turned to Drake. "You should put her back there before you get tired from carrying her. I'll look after her." Drake went toward the back of the room and set Julie's body on a white bed in a blindingly white room.

_Probably a medical bay, _Drake thought. _After all, Matt had one at that temporary place._ He rejoined the others, who were sitting in complete silence in a huge curved couch. Drake hadn't noticed it before, but it looked like Ashley had been crying.

"So… you were with Matt when he died?" She asked when Drake sat down. It sounded like she was trying to force conversation.

"Yes." Flynn said shortly.

"I still can't believe he died." Keith said. "He was so indestructible last year."

"I suppose it had to cut out eventually." Ashley said, a tear rolling down her cheek. "Was it quick?"

"Not in the least." Helen said. "It was probably the worst death I've ever seen. Pretty bloody too. I think he lost about two liters of blood before he died. And he probably deserved it."

"Oh, don't be like that!"

"Why not? He was a cruel, evil person, who deserved to die."

"You didn't know him like I did…" Silent tears were falling now. Ashley stood up and left the room. Helen didn't look sorry at all. Brooklyn came down the stairs in time to see Ashley walk past him.

"Thanks a lot." He said. "Who did that?"

"Professor Helen." Flynn said.

"Great job. You can see she's an emotional person, why did you have to go and do that?" Brooklyn said.

"She deserves it if she liked someone like him."

Brooklyn rolled his eyes. "There's no point in arguing. The simple fact is that we have to go back out. And we'll probably have to go back to the Shadow Realm."

"But we don't have anyone who knows it that well." Keith said. "We used to have Matt, and now we don't, and I have few doubts that you are capable, but I'm not sure you know it well enough."

Brooklyn grinned. "Don't worry. I won't be leading you in there. I saw this coming, so I went and got us someone who knows that place as well as Matt. Ready to meet him?"

"Who's that?" Drake said. There was the sound of footsteps behind Brooklyn. Drake saw black pointy shoes emerge from the upper level, closely followed by dark blue pants. A man wearing a blue jacket was coming down from the second floor, and he had the most hair Drake had ever seen. It spiked it in several directions. But he wasn't completely unfamiliar…

"No way…" Flynn said. "That's…"

"Yes. I got him." Brooklyn said.

"So." Yugi Mutou said. "Are you ready to save your friend?"

The Fight Continues…

Author's notes: Whew! whips sweat from forehead One more to go! Hope you enjoyed this one as much as the first, despite the slightly darker tone here... but hey, stick with me, I'll try to make this ending memorable. Don't know when I'll start the next one though... anyway, hope you enjoyed my pitiful writing:-D


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